When a team takes the lead in the 92nd minute of a game that should be it. Game over. End of story. Victory is yours without any buts.
But somehow that didn’t happen on Saturday as, despite Steven Anderson’s superb (should have been) match-winner, Whitehill managed to find an equaliser and force a replay this weekend down in Rosewell on the outskirts of Edinburgh.
Yes, the referee played an abnormal amount of injury time and yes, we should have had a free-kick on the halfway line moments before they scored.
At the end of the day, though, the players have only ourselves to blame. There is no excuse for one long ball to cause us such trouble and no excuse for allowing them to get a shot off at the edge of the box.
I feel for sorry for Anderson whose glorious moment in the sun has been ruined. That goal and the ensuing celebrations should have been a moment for all Scorries’ fans to remember for years to come.
We have to move on now, though, and focus on getting a result on Saturday.
The long travel involved shouldn’t be an issue as the club is more than used to that and Whitehill proved that, despite enduring a nightmare journey up the road the night before, they were still able to come out and get a result.
It might have been an undeserved result as there is no doubt that Academy were the better team, but they still got one
We have also shown in the last year or so that we are perhaps better equipped for playing away from home as the pace in our attack allows us to play on the counter-attack more, which doesn’t happen at the Harmsworth where teams tend to sit deeper and restrict us.
Despite having much of the possession and getting in plenty decent positions, we were lacking a cutting edge in the final third, hopefully something that will be remedied by the returning Sam Mackay.
He was a big miss on Saturday, but, not to put all the pressure on his shoulders, hopefully his presence can be the impetus for a positive performance and result, and a meeting with our North of Scotland Cup final opponents Nairn County in the next round.