Brechin City 0 v 1 Albion Rovers 
Scottish Cup Round 2
8th December 2001
Brechin City 0 v 1 Albion Rovers
Scottish Cup Round 2
8th December 2001
Attendance : 412
Scorer ~ Albion Rovers : Harty (2)
The continually carping myopic moron of a home supporter sitting in the front of the Glebe Park stand was left totally deflated as Rovers held on against severe pressure to claim a place in the Third Round of the Scottish Cup. Those of us who had to listen to his constant tirade against anything not wearing a red City jersey - including the referee, of course - were doubly delighted when our own heroes figuratively stuffed his ridiculous one-sided bias down his throat at the end of an engrossing match which (played on a glue-pot of a pitch) had all the ingredients of the traditional cup-tie, including two Brechin attempts which struck wood.
In the second half in particular, Brechin launched raid after raid on the visitors’ goal and looked certain to score on more than one occasion, only to come up against a generally solid defence - and the Man of the Match in Rovers’ goalkeeper Chris Fahey who on three occasions made point-blank saves to deny the enthusiastic home forwards.
With the game and the spectators still settling down, Rovers scored with only 1 minute 40 seconds on the clock. After some tenacious work on the left, Charlie McLean then fed to Stewart Easton whose delightful chip forward was only half cleared and when the ball was again passed across the goal, Martin Harty was on the spot to find the net from a couple of yards. What a start by Rovers!
It was obvious that City were not going to take this lying down and they began to string together some good passes. In 8 minutes, Todd Lumsden made a good intervention to rob the experienced Roddy Grant, then Rovers again struck a purple patch with home ‘keeper Mark Cairns doing well to palm a McLean drive to safety. Gerry McKenna was booked for a piece of judicious jersey-tugging before the forcible Mark Booth and the quicksilver Ryan McMullan got no reward for their good play.
In 27 minutes, Fahey brought off the first of his excellent saves by denying Grant when the burly one looked odds on to score. Then a good Paul Bonar free-kick eluded everyone in front of goal and a fine McMullan shot was well stopped by Cairns. Seconds from the whistle, the lanky Chris Templeman got his head to a cross then watched in dismay as the ball struck the base of the post and was cleared.
The second period almost began with a bang when in the 47th minute Grant headed against a post, with Chris Fahey a much relieved goalkeeper. Within the next ten minutes or so, City slowly began to turn the screw and Rovers were forced more and more on to the back foot. Fahey did well to block a Ben Honeyman drive before Kevin Fotheringham was booked. Then Grant again came close, with Fahey brilliantly turning his fierce shot aside. Fotheringham was inches away from connecting with a Roddy Black cross, then a dangerous hanging cross by the same player was expertly punched away by the ‘keeper. Nine minutes from the end, Fahey was again in the wars and was hurt in a collision in the crowded box, soon to recover.
Although Rovers were hanging on grimly to their narrow lead, they claimed a penalty in 89 minutes when Iain Diack tumbled in the box, but referee John Rowbotham waved play on. The final whistle was greeted with joy - and relief - by the Cliftonhill lads who had defied the bookies and burst a thousand coupons.
Brechin City : Cairns, Riley (D Smith 61), Black (Leask 80), Bain, Cairney, J Smith, King, Honeyman (Miller 61), Grant, Templeman, Fotheringham. Subs not used : Donnachie, McKeown.
Albion Rovers : Fahey, McKenna, Lumsden, Hamilton, Easton, Booth, Waldie, McMullan (Diack 64, McLees 90), McLean (McCormick 73), Harty, Bonar. Subs not used : Struthers, Shearer.
Referee : John Rowbotham.
Man of the Match : Chris Fahey
