Theologians v Ellon Thistle

Scottish Cup 2nd Round

Scottish Cup was the order of the day for Thistle. The opponents were Theologians who in recent years have been a bogey team for Ellon. After monsoon conditions in the morning it was a surprise the game was to go ahead but the Hazlehead park was deemed playable.

The game started poorly for both teams with slack passing and poor control common place in all areas of the park. The first real opening fell to Theologians number nine who received the ball from a suspectly awarded throw in but was to fire wide. They were in again when a miss hit Adamson clearance landed at The Theos’ number eight who luckily for Ellon tied himself in a knot and fell on his backside, an embarrassing moment for the winger, Rainbow City Taxis were on standby.

Theos’ did take the lead through an unfortunate moment for the Ellon Keeper Adamsom who came to collect a route one long ball only to spill it onto the onrushing strikers foot who couldn’t believe his luck, and it was two shortly after, when some ramshackle defending led to the Theos’ striker grabbing his second of the match even though he was lying on the deck, a terrible goal to concede.

Ellons only real chance of the match fell to Steven Beaton who rocketed a twenty yard drive off the thus far untroubled keepers crossbar.

Half-Time: Theologians 2 Ellon Thistle 0

Almost straight from kick off Theos’ made 3-0. Due to technical difficulties (purchasing half time cuppa) the goal was missed by the report writer. A real challenge for Ellon now and they would have to show great bouncebackabillity to stay in this years cup.

The Theo goal was breached on the fifty five minute mark when after a swashbuckling run down the right, Duncan McGill swung a ball into the box and IRONSIDE was on hand to give The Jags a life line. This made Ellon finally turn up after seemingly being A.W.O.L for an hour or so.

Stuart Batty hade a great chance to score Ellons second when he was in acres of space but fired over the bar from close range, but soon after it was “game on” when after a catastrophic howler from the Theos’ keeper LONGMUIR deposited the loose ball into the empty net. The conditions didn’t help the keeper but Longmuir wasn’t to care. 3-2.

Ellon were to shoot themselves in the foot right after when after more rickety defending Theos’ made it 4-2 and seemingly out of sight. Niggling was to creep into The Jags team with catty remarks being tossed from sideline to pitch and vice versa. Things not looking to good for them.

Even with the internal bickering Ellon pulled another back when McGill found himself on the end of an Anderson corner only to see his shot hit the defender, LONGMUIR was in the right place at the right time to locate the rebound past the keeper, and the goals were not to stop there in this epic cup tie. The Theos’ keeper had another calamitous error of judgement and let BATTY grab his third goal in two games when he seemed to have lead in his boots and let in the midfielder out jump to even the scores.

A real cup tie played out to a stalemate setting up a replay at the Meadows Saturday week with The Jags hoping to end their Theologians hoodoo and find their name in the hat for the Third round draw.

Final Score: Theologians 4 Ellon Thistle 4

Ellon Thistle: D Adamson, S Cruickshanks (K Duncan), R Birnie, A Kerr, D Anderson, C Duncan, S Batty, S Beaton (R Longmuir), M Gibson (D McGill), M Wild, P Ironside. Subs Not Used: B Alexander, A MacLean