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Daily Record
Daily Record
National
Eric McGowan

Kello Rovers 2 Irvine Meadow 1: Nine-man underdogs spring massive Scottish Junior Cup shock

Nine-man Kello Rovers survived a late Meadow onslaught to pull off a major Scottish Junior Cup upset and reach the quarter finals of the competition for the first time in 45 years.

Mark Armour sent them on their way to a fairytale victory at Nithside Park when he fired home a fantastic strike from the edge of the box just nine minutes into an enthralling tie.

The League One underdogs were reduced to 10-men in 18 minutes when defender Robbie Crolley was shown a straight red card for a wild touchline lunge on Dow striker Eddie McTernan.

But their Premiership opponents never looked like taking advantage and instead they fell further behind early in the second half when Rovers full back Sean Bennie smashed home an unstoppable looping volley from 35 yards.

Kello were well worthy of their lead at this stage and looked very comfortable despite being a man down.

But a second yellow card for striker Liam Fleming  11 minutes from time left them with only nine men to see out the closing stages.

Meadow unsurprisingly laid siege to the home goal in a desperate bid to salvage the tie.

Rovers right back Kieran Pagan made a goal-line clearance and goalkeeper Ryan Dunsmuir pulled off a string of superb stops as the hosts defended like their lives depended on it.

But they were powerless to stop Jared Willet rifling a shot through a sea of bodies and into the centre of the goal to set up a nerve-wracking final four minutes.

Meadow thought they'd secured a replay in stoppage time when Calum Gow headed Lee McCrae's free kick in off the underside of the crossbar but referee Chris Gentles spotted an infringement and blew for a foul in Rovers' favour.

A few minutes later, the official's whistle sounded the end of the game, sparking ecstasy on the park and among the home support.

Kello now look forward to being in the draw for the last eight for the first time since season 1974/75.

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