Kai Watson: The Big Boys Enter (and exit) The Scottish Cup
This weekend represented the first round of the Scottish Cup for the Premiership sides and it was an incredibly exciting round of fixtures. There were massive potential banana skins for the likes of Celtic, Rangers, Hibs, Dundee United, Motherwell and Aberdeen but by the close of play on Sunday evening there weren’t that many shocks.
First up was a Friday night game under the lights at Ibrox as Rangers hosted Annan. The away side started well and looked aggressive and positive but it only took the hosts twelve minutes to open the scoring and it was an uphill battle from there.
It was Miovski who opened the scoring and he doubled it on 32 minutes when Rangers had been completely controlling the game. Annan would have been happy only going in 2-0 down given how the game was going. Almost instantly after half-time though, Kieran Dowell made it 3-0 from a header.
Miovski then completed his hat-trick from the penalty spot after Matondo was brought down and Thelo Aasgaard scored one of the best free-kicks you’ll see this season from around 35 yards out to make it 3-0.
No shocks on Friday but the early kick-off on Saturday provided the first shock of the weekend in the televised game at East End Park as Dunfermline hosted Hibs. It was a tight affair and a good cup tie but it was settled by a Chaiwa OG in the 92nd minute which sent the stands into pandemonium.
There were some more big shocks as Stenhousemuir hosted Morton and ran away 4-0 winners and Inverness were knocked out on penalties by League Two leaders Spartans. Hearts against Falkirk was always going to be a tough one given how the Bairns have been performing this season but Derek McInnes’ side were the favourites, especially at home.
John McGlynn’s side were excellent though and didn’t allow Hearts to settle into the game and get into their usual rhythm. Hearts had a goal disallowed for handball in the build-up by Tomas Magnusson before he put it into the net. Falkirk deservedly took the lead just before the hour mark as new signing Ben Parkinson opened his account for the club after arriving from Newcastle.
Hearts did manage an equalisier from the spot after substitute and debutant Islam Chesnokov was fouled by Leon McCann and Lawrence Shankland slotted it home. They couldn’t be separated in extra-time so it went to penalties, Kabangu missed at 3-3 then Falkirk’s goalscorer Ben Parkinson coolly put away the final penalty for the away side to win 5-4, another early cup exit f0r Hearts!
On Sunday, Aberdeen won 1-0 at home against Raith Rovers and an unconvincing Celtic performance led to a 2-0 win against Auchinlek Talbot at Rugby Park.
Here were the other scores;
Airdrie 3-3 Arbroath (Airdrie win 4-2 on pens)
Camelon Juniors 1-3 Elgin City
Dundee United 2-0 Ayr United
Kelty Hearts 1-1 Cove Rangers (Kelty win 5-3 on pens)
Kilmarnock 1-2 Dundee
Livingston 1-1 St. Mirren (St. Mirren win 4-3 on pens)
Motherwell 1-0 Ross County
Partick 3-1 Montrose
After a frenetic weekend of action, Celtic are the current favourites at the betting sites to lift the Scottish Cup for the 43rd time.
More Scottish Football
Here at Free Bets, we bring you the biggest news and talking points from Scotland - check out our latest Scottish football articles below.
