Manager Craig Stewart hailed Deveronvale’s character after they came from behind three times to beat Culter in a rip-roaring Scottish Cup first round tie.
The Breedon Highland League side, who finished with 10 men, prevailed 4-3 after extra-time in a thrilling tussle with the North Junior champions at Crombie Park.
It’s the Banffers first win in the Scottish Cup since September 2018 and their first victory in all competitions since July 29.
Boss Stewart said: “It’s difficult to put my thoughts into words.
“People can question our character and the players’ commitment all they want – but we pulled it out of the bag.
“We were struggling for a squad and we had to pull boys back from loans.
“It’s not been a kind competition for us in recent years, we’ve had some really tough draws and this was another one.
“It was a draw I didn’t want, we had to work and scrap for every little thing.
“But at the end of the day I think the cream came to the top and we got a result.”
Hosts make breakthrough
Culter, who’d won 12 out of 12 this term prior to this encounter, started on the front foot with Ross Clark heading a Ben McGregor cross from the left against the crossbar in the fifth minute.
Clark wasn’t to be denied six minutes later when he beat Harry Noble to Cammy Fraser’s ball through and fired past goalkeeper Sean McIntosh.
In the 34th minute Vale equalised when Innes McKay’s left-footed strike from 40 yards squirmed through the hands of goalkeeper Peter Tait and into the net.
The sides were only level for a minute, however, as Clark drove to the edge of the box before finding the bottom left corner.
Tait thwarted Cameron Angus and Matthew Petermann either side of the interval before McIntosh rushed out to stop Clark completing his hat-trick just before the hour mark.
Banffers rally
Midway through the second half Deveronvale evened things up when Noble’s free-kick from the edge of the box was spilled by Tait and Jamie MacLellan stabbed the rebound into the net.
In the 83rd minute Culter took the lead for the third time when McGregor’s corner broke for sub Willie Mathers and he sent a superb overhead kick into the roof of the net.
But in the first minute of stoppage time back came Vale with Matthew Petermann picking out the top right corner with a brilliant curling shot.
At the end of first half of extra-time the visitors took the lead, MacLellan played a one-two with Ryan Park and lashed a shot into the bottom right corner from the left side of the area.
On 107 minutes McKay was shown a second yellow card by referee Kyle Hall for a trip on Clark and shortly after Mark Adam headed Mathers’ free-kick against the crossbar as Culter looked to force penalties.
In the final minute the Junior side came close to levelling when Fraser found Elliot Duff on the right of the box and Jayden Goldie cleared his strike off the line.
Culter claimed it had crossed and also had a shout for a penalty with Fraser appearing to be tripped after passing, but ref Hall dismissed the appeals.
Mistakes prove costly
Home boss Lee Youngson, who was red carded after the final whistle for comments to the match officials, said: “It’s really disappointing.
“If you don’t take your opportunities you get punished and we made two really bad mistakes to lose goals.
“In the end Deveronvale deserved it because they didn’t make the mistakes we did.
“Peter Tait was disappointed, but he’s saved us in tight games plenty of times and we win and lose as a team.
“It’s not the referee’s job to say whether it’s a goal (in the final minute of extra-time).
“The linesman is standing in line with it, he didn’t want to make a decision.
“But we can’t point at the officials, we’ve got to deal with our performance.
“I thought we played reasonably well, but if you make those mistakes and miss opportunities you can’t blame anyone but yourselves.”
🏆 📽️ Culter v @DeveronvaleFC
A thrilling game between the two sides was eventually won by the away team, as Deveronvale advanced to the Second Round.#ScottishCup pic.twitter.com/oHbDB9Twh2
— Scottish Cup (@ScottishCup) September 24, 2023
