Berwick Rangers into round two of Scottish Cup, thanks to Jonny Devers double late on v Cupar Hearts
Berwick Rangers are through to round two of this season’s Scottish Cup, thanks to two goals against Cupar Hearts from Jonny Devers in as many minutes within a whisker of the full-time whistle.
Former Whitehill Welfare midfielder Devers, 24, netted on 87 minutes and 89 to knock the Scottish Lowland Football League hosts’ Kingdom of Fife Amateur Football Association premier division opposition out.
The two teams were tied at 2-2 at Shielfield Park at that point, Kyle Baker having put the Fifers ahead with two minutes on the clock and Liam Kelly having netted an 82nd-minute equaliser, sandwiching goals for their hosts from Arran Laidlaw on 21 minutes and Jamie Watson just ahead of the hour mark.
That sets up a second-round trip to Scottish League Two side Forfar Athletic for Rangers on or around Saturday, October 26.
Berwick manager Thomas Scobbie was relieved to see his side get past their amateur opponents, reduced to ten men for most of the second half by a 64th-minute red card for substitute Lewis Baker, saying: “It didn’t start so well, going one down within a minute and a half, so that gave them something to hold on to, but I’m really proud of the guys showing the patience that they did to get back into the game and ultimately go on and win it quite comfortably.
“It’s important for clubs like Berwick that we try and get as far as we can in the competition.
“The finances are a great help to the club and it also kept an unbeaten run going, taking us to five.
“We knew it was going to be a difficult task, and if you look at some of the results that happened in the Scottish Cup with lower-league opponents winning against higher-level opponents, this could have been a real banana-skin for us, so I have to give full credit to the players who managed to get us through. We’re delighted to be through.”
Berwick’s undefeated streak was ended at home to Bo’ness United on Tuesday evening, a Michael Travis goal just ahead of half-time having earned all three points for their visitors.
They’re back in Scottish Lowland Football League action at home this coming Saturday against East Kilbride, with kick-off at 3pm, and they go into that game sitting tenth in the table, on 14 points from 11 fixtures.
“We’ve managed to get the squad back fit, so we’ve got a good squad just now to choose from and guys are really battling each other for places,” added Scobbie, 36.