No non-Scottish League teams were able to make their way through to the next round, but two of them earned another chance of doing so. East of Scotland League clubs Threave Rovers and Whitehill Welfare both achieved 1-1 draws on League grounds, at East Stirling and Stranraer respectively. In the case of Threave, they will surely fancy their chances of success in the replay at Castle Douglas, given the terrible season that Shire have endured so far. The Third Division's bottom club opened the scoring in this match, but were pegged back within 10 minutes. Only 210 people watched the game.
A similarly poor turnout at Stair Park witnessed a bit of a surprise, given Stranraer's lofty league position. But Whitehill have been competing in the cup regularly for years and are well used to games against League sides. They opened the scoring through Bennett, but Michael Moore netted before half-time, and a replay will now be required.
The tie of the round, in terms of most interesting match, was at Pennypit Park, Prestonpans. The home team, Preston Athletic, were playing their first Scottish Cup tie and acquitted themselves well. Opponents Hamilton struggled badly after scoring through former Spider Brian McPhee after 4 minutes, although they should have scored another during a first half they dominated. Dale McCall hit the post for Athletic, who had the support of most of the 973 crowd, but in truth it was their only serious chance, and Hamilton saw out the game just glad to get through.
Selkirk's first cup-tie for 9 years ended in defeat, though not until they had given Cowdenbeath a jolt by scoring first. However, the Fifers hit back in the second half which they dominated, netting 4 times for an easy win.
Final non-league team participating on Saturday were Huntly, and they went down 3-1 at Forfar. Martin Bavidge, in fine form this season, scored two of the home team's goals. Uninterestingly, all 4 goals were scored by former Inverness players ( Byers and De Barros the others ).
Brechin, who had already reached a final this season, were well beaten at Ochilview against Stenhousemuir, 4-1, and this after taking the lead. A very poor result for Dick Campbell's side.
The obligatory "shock" result came at Links Park, where the home team forgot about their disappointing league position and defeated Second Division promotion challengers Berwick 2-1. The visitors finished up with 9 men, and their goal was a final minute consolation strike from Alex Burke. The downside for Montrose was Queen's Park late goal at Morton, which means that Montrose are now just a single point ahead of Queen's.
Finally, Raith Rovers versus Dumbarton, where we had the biggest crowd of the day ( 1,639 ). Exciting young player Ryan Blackadder scored a late winner in a tight game, where Dumbarton had missed a few opportunities to get the first goal themselves. Raith are on top form at the moment, and will be confident of a Third Round place, especially considering that they are at home to Montrose.
The two replays will both take place this Saturday, necessitating the postponement of a couple of League games. Here is the revised Second Round draw:
Airdrie United v. Threave Rovers
Forfar v. Stenhousemuir
Gretna v. Cove Rangers
Hamilton v. East Fife
Keith v. Cowdenbeath
Morton v. Deveronvale
Peterhead v. Elgin City
Queen's Park v. Albion Rovers
Raith Rovers v. Montrose
Stranraer v. Stirling Albion
Ties to be played on Saturday 4th January 2003
Stranraer had a real battle against Whitehill Welfare, before coming out
3-2 winners. Paul Kerr scored twice for Stranraer, who were never behind in the game, but nonetheless Whitehill could count themselves a little unlucky to have gone out.