Carnoustie Panmure 1-1 Hawick Royal Albert: Albert's new Hong Kong ace scores cracker to earn Scottish Cup replay

Trailing 1-0 to Ross Fraser’s first half strike for the Scottish Junior Football Association East Region Midlands League side on 31 minutes, To, 33, levelled spectacularly on 75 minutes to earn a replay at Albert Park this Saturday.

"Although To is 33 he looks in his early 20s,” Albert boss Kenny Aitchison told The Southern Reporter. “He just scored the free-kick right in the top corner, really well taken.

"I’ve seen him do that a couple of times in training. We knew from the first session that he had quality and we made our best efforts to bring him in.

"He had a great game. They call him Chris because Chinese people choose an English name.

"His experience gives us a bit more creativity going forward.

"We certainly don’t have scouts in Hong Kong so signing him just came through hard work. When I took the role I spoke to as many people as I could to try and find the options of players available.

"To was recommended by an agent I’d worked with before. He mentioned he had a player who had just moved to Edinburgh and he didn’t know the best way to find a club.

"So we spoke to him over pre-season, he came and trained with us, really enjoyed the atmosphere at the club and as a result decided to sign for us officially until the end of the season.

"I’d seen him playing matches on video before and he played more as a number 10 before so he’s probably more creative than an out and out goalscorer.”

Aitchison said that Saturday’s tie was To’s competitive debut for Albert as it had taken a month for international clearance to come through from the Hong Kong FA. The gaffer said that Albert had received great interest from Hong Kong since signing the player, with locals asking for football jerseys and merchandise.

Another hero of Saturday’s draw was Albert’s newly signed goalkeeper Michael Thomson – who has joined on loan from Whitehill Welfare until the end of the season – who made a couple of stunning late saves to earn a second crack at Carnoustie.

“It certainly was a very good result,” Aitchison said. “I’ve never had so many congratulations over a draw before.

"It was obviously very pleasing. If you looked at the odds the bookies were offering, it was 10 to 1 on for Carnoustie to win the tie so I’m sure we ruined a few coupons that weekend.

"At half-time we said to the players we felt it was a good performance and asked them to keep tight, not concede a second goal and as long as the tie lasted, we would have a chance.

"We created enough in the first half to suggest that if we kept playing at the same level we would have a chance to get a goal back.

“Michael made two terrific saves at the very end. He saved a 1 v 1 against their striker and another one from a close range bullet header which he palmed onto the underside of the bar.”

On his side’s prospects in the replay this Saturday, with kick-off at 3pm, Aitchison said: “We are still very much up against it. We shouldn’t get too carried away.

"We played a certain way in this tie and it achieved the result. We will more or less continue in the same manner.

"With them having to travel to Hawick on a three-hour round trip, that can make a difference.

"Even with 150 people at Carnoustie it was quite an intimidating atmosphere. There were a lot of guys behind our goal teasing the goalkeeper, putting him under pressure.

"So I would imagine we’d have some of that with good Borders support. A good Hawick support can make the difference so I believe we can do it.

"In the last two results we have proved we can compete against top teams and hopefully we just have that bit of quality at both ends of the park to make the difference.”