Cup joy as Forth progress

Oct 25 2012 by Andrew McGilvray, Hamilton Advertiser

A scoring start to each half set up Forth Wanderers for a merited win over Lanark United in the Emirates Scottish Cup second round.

Chris Gordon pounced with six minutes gone, latching onto a Martin Harty slip to cut in from the left and drive the ball into the far corner.

Barely 90 seconds into the second half Craig Crawford ran onto a neat pass from Chris McGroarty to draw the keeper and drill the ball into the net.

Forth’s passage into the third round was clinched in 58 minutes when Crawford cleverly cut the ball back across goal for Gordon to steer into the net.

Lanark bounced back after the opener to pummel the Forth goal, but their efforts were often too high, and keeper John Hutchison confidently dealt with their aerial threat.

Forth’s central defensive pairing of manager Jamie McKenzie and ex-Lanark stopper Davie Grant had the better of the opening exchanges, as Brian Johnston and Chris Sheenan passed up half-chances for the hosts.

Forth player-manager Jamie McKenzie said: “It was a decent performance and we merited our victory.

“In the first half they had a lot of the ball but we soaked up the pressure, defended well, and hit them on the break, which was pleasing.

“Wee Chris Gordon has been threatening to score goals for weeks, but chances didn’t come along. On Saturday they did and he snapped two of them up, so I’m delighted for him; he works so hard and played well alongside Martin Harty.

“We’ve always had the feeling we could score goals going forward, but on Saturday we also defended really well, while John Hutchison proved he is probably the best goalkeeper in the league, and in my opinion it’s by a country mile.”

Lanark boss Tam McDonald said: “We never turned up and it was ridiculous.

“We pummelled them for much of the first half but couldn’t take advantage and lost a second within a minute of the second half. It was shambolic.”