William Hill Scottish Cup 1st Round

Fraserburgh 0 Bonnyrigg Rose 1

Bonnyrigg Rose who are famous for their Scottish Cup adventures are once again on the trail of yet another. This time they are back in action in the Scottish Cup as a result of a superb last season when they clinched the East of Scotland League in style. Once again they faced a tough trip to the Highlands for an away game against top Highland League outfit Fraserburgh. However the big travelling support were wary of trips to the Highlands after last season’s loss at Deveronvale losing by the odd goal in 3.
This time though it was a different story to tell and with a different end for the trip home. An injury time strike from George Hunter sent the travelling support singing all the way back down the road to Bonnyrigg. Again same as last week gaffer Robbie Horn had problems before the bus left for Fraserburgh. Missing from the trip were 2 giants of the defence, Kerr Young and young Daniel Baur. Young is away on holiday while Hearts had refused permission for Baur to play. No problem for the gaffer though, “We were disappointed that Daniel wasn’t allowed to even travel as the Hearts under 20’s coach had said he could play in the Scottish Cup, however they changed their minds and we have to respect that. In the end we had Moyesy(Ewan Moyes) and Neilly(Martynuik) who were both absolutely outstanding today.”
The first half was a poor display from both sides with few chances and neither keeper tested. That all changed for the start of the second period. Fraserburgh did not like the prospect of the long trip to Bonnyrigg next week and were soon pressurising the Rose defence. This is when the big players stepped up to the mark with Moyes and keeper Mark Weir outstanding. Time and time again they kept the chances to a minimum. Then with 90 minutes finished Bonnyrigg pushed up field very much against the run of play. Dean Brett found himself in the penalty box driving towards the bye line. He pulled the ball back into George Hunter’s path and he slammed the ball into the net off the crossbar to send the travelling support into a frenzy. There was hardly any time for Fraserburgh to mount an attack but even then keeper Weir was forced into a great block to stifle any threat.
In the end it was a battling performance from the Rose and one they should be proud of. It means the adventure continues and for my “Man of the Match” Moyes a good afternoons work. “That’s a great result up here. They knew how the conditions would be and knew how to play them. We dug in when we needed to be and when the chance fell to us we had the players to take advantage. I got whacked a couple of times but I’ve had worse. The important thing is we’re into the 2nd round and the good times keep rolling. There were some big performances from us today but the result will make the long journey home much better.”

Robbie’s Interview

“This was always going to be a tough call for us. They are towards the top of the Highland League and they are there on merit. It was a blustery day which didn’t add to the game. It was a sticky first half and they had to open up for the last 45 minutes but the players were solid at the back with both Moyesy and Neil outstanding. We have to be very happy with afternoon’s work as we are in the 2nd round and that’s what we came here to do.”

Fraserburgh: Leask, Cairns, Young, Cowie, Simpson, Rae, Beagrie, West, Campbell, Butcher(Buchan), S Barbour. Subs: Watt, Hannar, L Barbour, Sargent, Flinn.

Bonnyrigg Rose: Weir, Brett, Brown, Moyes, Horne, Turner, Stewart, McGachie(R Gray), Currie, Martynuik, Hunter. Subs: Andrews, Docherty, Devlin, S Gray.

Bookings: Fraserburgh Cowie, Beagrie. Bonnyrigg: Brown

Att: 457