Keith 4 Hill of Beath Hawthorn 2: Maroons through in Scottish Cup after extra time
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KEITH defeated Hill of Beath Hawthorn 4-2 in a Boxing Day thriller to reach the second round of the Scottish Cup, writes Charlie Simpson.
The Maroons battled back from behind to win in extra time after a pulsating 120 minutes on action.
Keith went ahead when all-time top scorer Cammy Keith rattled home his 10th Scottish Cup goal in the 12th minute.
Within five minutes, though, it was level pegging. The home rearguard gave away a free kick
right on the edge of the box and Brandon Luke brilliantly whacked it into the top corner.
A further blow came when influential defender Ryan Spink hobbled off with a hamstring injury after only 21 minutes.
The sprightly visitors were taking the game to their hosts, and they got their noses in front nine minutes from the break when a failure to clear their lines saw Beath net from eight yards through Ryan Connelly.
Simpson then produced the first of several fine stops pulling off a fine point blank save two minutes from half-time to deny Connelly again.
Craig Macaskill’s introduction in the 53rd minute gave the Maroons more width, but Simpson had to pull off another terrific save to deny Connelly again with 20 to play.
Minutes later, however, there was jubilation in the home camp as Scott Gray, only on the field for three minutes, darted in to slam home the equaliser, Keith’s 100th Scottish Cup goal.
The Maroons began to pile on the pressure as Liam Strachan went close with a 15-yarder before, in the dying seconds, Macaskill screwed an angled shot inches past the foot of the far post.
That signalled extra time. Eight minutes into the first period a Craig Macaskill corner from the left hand side evaded everybody in the crowded Beath six yard box, and flew straight into the corner of the net.
Barely 60 seconds later, Michael Selfridge wrapped up the 4-2 success when he whipped the ball home from 10 yards.
Keith will find out their second round opponents tonight at 7.15pm.
