The Second Round began back on 4 January, but only 3 of the scheduled games actually took place. Undersoil heating meant that Queen's Park's home tie with Albion Rovers went ahead, but the entertainment served up did not really merit the large crowd which turned up to witness it. A Johnny Whelan header midway through the second half ensured a replay, equalising Diack's early flicked volley which rounded off a fine move.Gretna's first ever Scottish Cup game ended in an easy enough win, with two Mark Dobie goals and one from Hore enough to render the long journey of Aberdeen's Cove Rangers fruitless. The win came in the midst of a much improved run of results from the League's newest club. The Kynoch Park pitch had to be cleared of snow in order for Keith's home game with Cowdenbeath not to be postponed. Keith are a team with long history in the Cup, and it seemed as if a famous win could be on the cards when Derek Nicol put them in front early in the second half. But Cowdenbeath were very soon in front, and got an insurance goal with 20 minutes left.
The first of the re-scheduled games was the Highland clash involving Peterhead and Elgin City, the following Saturday. It was a dour game, and a replay seemed certain until David Mackay conceded a late penalty and was shown the red-card for his troubles. Craig Cooper scored, and the home team had won a slightly fortunate victory.
On Monday 13 January, all 4 home teams edged through, although in Stranraer's case it was a little more comfortable than that would suggest, though two of Stranraer's goals came very late on. Stirling were beaten 4-1 at Stair Park, but only a little over 300 were there to see it. On the same night, the biggest crowd of the tournament so far ( 1,772 ) was present at Cappielow to see Morton knock out Deveronvale, but they made life hard for themselves. Having been three goals down at the interval, the Banff team gained some hope with a Taylor goal, but a penalty with 8 minutes to go from the ever-prolific Williams made the tie safe - just about. Deveronvale responded immediately with Dlugonski scoring, before a Gaughan own goal returned a Deveronvale defender's favour during the first half. Morton saw out a nervy few closing minutes to win 4-3. Raith Rovers enjoyed an easy home win over Montrose by three goals to one, with strikers Hawley, Smith and Carrigan all netting for the runaway Second Division leaders. And Forfar also made it through: last season's Quarter-Finalists defeated Stenhousemuir 3-1 at home, with around 600 in attendance. Top scorer Martin Bavidge secured the win with a goal a minute from time.
Now to two ties in North Lanarkshire on the same night, both of which had already been postponed twice. Queen's Park's magnificent away triumph over Albion Rovers has already been documented on this site, but it's a pleasure to go over it again, even if only in brief. A goal by James Allan from the edge of the box after 19 minutes, after he brought the ball down expertly before turning and firing in a shot which Shearer should have handled better, gave Queen's a lead which they defended tigerishly for the following hour or so despite a few close scares and a fair amount of pressure, aerially and on the ground. But the defence held firm, and with eight minutes remaining Willie Martin broke, latching onto a long Ferry pass, cut inside a defender, and then slipped the ball under Shearer for the winner. The TV cameras were again present, as they had been at Hampden, to record these memorable moments for posterity, though it was a pity that only a few of the celebrating Queen's Park support could be seen from the pictures.
The other game that evening of 14 January was a more low-key affair, with Airdrie United - in their first Cup game in their new guise - beating Threave Rovers 1-0 thanks to an Alan Gow goal after 18 minutes. Airdrie deserved the win, but the East of Scotland League side had competed well, and will look back on this season's tournament with satisfaction. Sadly though, their loss was also ours, as it guaranteed that no non-league clubs would be playing in the Third Round: the first time that this has happened since 1997.
The final tie was to be, inevitably, a long, drawn out one, prolonging the wait of all Queen's Park fans to see who their team would face. It will be Hamilton, who came very close to sealing things at their own Douglas Park on 15 January, but had to settle for a replay, Herkes scoring in the last minute after former QP striker Brian McPhee- scorer of 4 goals against the Fifers for Queen's in 1993 - had broken the deadlock in 79 minutes. This tie had already been postponed three times, and as expected the replay was another intensely close game. McPhee again put Hamilton in front, but Herkes again equalised for East Fife, who were in control, and deservedly went in front two minutes from the end through Ross Graham. Luck was smiling on Hamilton though, as they were awarded a soft last minute penalty, which Stuart Callaghan converted. Extra time produced no goals, and this so season's first Scottish Cup penalty shoot-out was required. Herkes, who had already played a huge part in this tie, undid his earlier good work by missing, and Hamilton's Brian McPhee continued his fine form in this tie by scoring the winning penalty, setting up that tie at Hampden against his former club.
Martin Kelly
Joseph Mullaney