Broxburn Athletic made their Scottish Cup debut one to remember thanks to a 2-0 home win over Tynecastle in the First Preliminary Round.
The Brox were making their first ever appearance in the nation’s top cup competition after they became full SFA members over the course of the summer and booked their place in the Second Preliminary Round thanks to two early goals at Albyn Park.
Conor Kelly, on nine minutes, and then Zander Miller midway through the first half ensured the hosts will be travelling to Girvan on August 31 with a place in the first round proper up for grabs.
The hosts started the brighter of the two sides and it quickly became apparent that they were the team from the higher division.
They opened the scoring in fine fashion inside 10 minutes when skipper Nick Locke teed up Kelly on the right-hand side of the box with his angled drive leaving Murray Jackson in the Tynie goal with no chance.
Miller was a constant threat up front and would go close twice in quick succession when he latched onto a wonderful ball over the top but fired his volley just wide before a heading a Gordon Donaldson cross over the bar.
On 20 minutes, it would be third time lucky when he rose above the defence to head a Jack Beesley free-kick from the right back across goal and into the far corner for Athletic’s second.
The away side would stem the tide for the remainder of the first half and would have cut the deficit on the 30 minute mark if not for a wonderful Conor Wallace save after Kenny O’Brien had found some space 10 yards out and rifled an effort that looked destined to burst the net only for a firm hand from Wallace deflecting the ball wide.
The second half was a much more even affair, but the Brox did go close to finishing the game off within second of the restart as Kelly’s shot cannoned off the crossbar.
Wallace was again alert when called upon as he thwarted substitute Jordan Smith on 64 minutes.
With the away side having to push men forward in an attempt to get back into the game, Broxburn continually hit them on the break but were unable to put the game to bed.
Miller thought he had netted his second with 20 minutes remaining but he was offside from Beesley’s pass while Craig Scott hit the post from distance.
A slew of chances were missed in the closing stages and the final outcome could have been more comfortable but the job was done and it was an historic victory for the hosts.
