Berwick Rangers 2

Hawick Royal Albert 3

David Knox at Shielfield Park

AS the 50th anniversary of Berwick’s famous Scottish Cup win over Rangers quickly approaches it is ironic that they should suffer their own biggest upset.

While Sammy Reid’s single goal was enough to topple the Ibrox giants on January 28, 1967, it took a stunning first half hat-trick from Josh Morris on Saturday to secure Hawick’s passage.

Morris, who spent two years at Berwick without making the breakthrough, was delighted with his club’s historic victory.

He told the Border Telegraph: “Scoring one would have been great but to score a hat-trick was unbelievable and something I’m very pleased with.

“We’ve shown a great ability to silence the doubters… when people hear Hawick Royal Albert they think of the team that languished at the bottom of the East of Scotland for years.

“We are now a force to be reckoned with and that’s down to the manager, Dean Shanks, and an excellent coaching team.

“This is a day we will all remember for a long time.”

While the 100-strong Albert faithful’s celebrations in the main stand drowned out the Berwick boos, the result reverberated inside Shielfield with manager John Coughlin offering his resignation – an offer which was later turned down.

Coughlin told us: “I didn’t see that coming. I fully expected us to have the ammunition to deal with Hawick.

“The fight wasn’t there today. We often set up as a counter attacking team and we’re good at that but when we are expected to attack for the whole game we are falling short.

“The buck has to stop with the manager and I’m happy to accept the consequences.”

A calamitous error by keeper Keven Walker, which saw his attempted clearance strike the back of Sean Meikle, allowed Morris to score into an empty net after only three minutes.

While the opener was fortuitous, Morris’ second seven minutes later oozed class.

Meikle darted to the byline and his low cut back was perfectly controlled by the former Berwick striker at the near post before he unleashed an unstoppable shot into the net.

The home team, who had looked sluggish during the opening exchanges, finally woke up with Michael McKena accepting a deflected cross inside the area to beat Kyle Rankin with a blistering shot.

But the revival petered out pretty quickly with Hawick’s defence preventing Rankin’s goal being seriously tested.

And the hard work by the midfield and defence was rewarded on 40 minutes as Morris collected a through ball from Jon McInally to cut inside his marker and slot a low shot beneath Walker at his near post.

Coughlin responded immediately with two substitutions and his changes almost proved a masterstroke as just a minute later Jordyn Sheerin was provided with the perfect opportunity, only to shoot wide with the goal at his mercy.

Hawick began the second half well with James McPartlin forcing a decent save from Walker on 47 minutes.

And from the resultant corner Hamish Hunter’s effort was cleared off the line by Graeme Beveridge.

But Berwick were soon in the ascendency, forcing the Lowland League side deeper and deeper into their own half.

Darren Lavery and McKenna both went close before Sheerin somehow headed over from six yards on 65 minutes.

Debutant Greg Rutherford did find the net three minutes later as he headed Lavery’s cross beyond Rankin.

The 22-year-old former Arbroath striker thought he’d equalised on 70 minutes but he was judged to have pushed Shaun Spence during the corner by referee Mike Roncone.

Desperation began to creep into the home play with Hawick’s defenders dealing comfortably with long balls – and the closer the final whistle came, the less Berwick looked like salvaging a replay… and some pride.

Jubilant scenes followed full time.

Smiling manager Dean Shanks told us: “That was fantastic – the effort and resilience we showed was terrific.

“We are a young team that are progressing and we will get better.

“This is a day we’ll enjoy and can take a lot of encouragement from.”

Berwick Rangers. K Walker, G Beveridge, J Orru (L Hamilton 42), S Notman, R Wilson, B Martin, S Thomson, B Stirling (G Rutherford 42), M McKenna, D Lavery & J Sheerin (D Watt 87).

Hawick Royal Albert. K Rankin, R Stevenson, S Spence, D Johnson, E Sanderson, S Conaghan, J McPartlin, S Meikle (T Crease 76), J Morris, J McInally & H Hunter.