Hawick Royal Albert 0

Bonnyrigg Rose 5

David Knox

at Albert Park

IT was always going to be a tough task for Paul McGovern’s thrown together squad against the former Super League champions.

But makeshift Hawick were far from embarrassed in this preliminary round of the Scottish Cup.

Late goals in both halves gave Rose their deserved passage into the second preliminary round, but home gaffer McGovern was full of praise for his own players.

He said: “Just a couple of days ago I wasn’t even sure I would have enough players to fulfil this fixture.

“I am proud of the way the boys stuck to their task and on another day we may have scored a goal or two.

“Bonnyrigg are a really good team with a lot of good players, but we held our own for long periods and I can’t ask for much more.”

The former junior champions did hand out a few early warnings with Kerr Young heading inches wide and Lee Currie forcing a good save from Craig Saunders.

But the best chance of the opening quarter hour came at the other end as Mark McGovern’s powerful freekick was parried by Michael Andrews and the visiting keeper had to react quickly to smother the loose ball before Cormac O’Brien pounced.

Kieran McGachie was unfortunate not to fire the visitors in front with a spectacular overhead kick which shaved the bar on 18 minutes.

And the linesman’s flag came to Hawick’s rescue on 34 minutes after Kyle Wilson thought he’d scored with a low shot.

Hawick had played well enough on the counter attack with Lewis Knox making runs from deep.

But as half time approached the Albert were forced to defend deeper and deeper – and on 41 minutes the pressure turned to goals.

Currie latched onto a deep cross to force a great block by Saunders, and he managed to hit the post with the rebound before, at the third attempt, squeezing the ball into the net.

On the stroke of half time Rose doubled the lead.

Saunders’ throw out to the exposed Luke Cooper allowed Lewis Turner to dispose the midfielder before chipping into the empty net.

Hawick rallied briefly at the start of the second half with Daniel Birrell dinking the ball over the outrushing Andrews only for his effort to float centimetres over the bar.

Rose made sure of progression on the hour with Currie converting from close range.

Hawick continued to press and Andrews made two outstanding saves – firstly from McGovern and then to prevent Knox’s glancing header crossing the line.

But it was Bonnyrigg who finished strongest with Stevie Thomson’s shot being judged to have crossed the line on 82 minutes and Wilson hitting the bottom corner with a well-taken finish just three minutes later.

Hawick Royal Albert. C Saunders, S Dargo, D Pacitti, D Lyko, A Noble (M Pajak 60), S Murphy, L Knox, D Birrell, M McGovern (N Johnson 82), C O’Brien & L Cooper (J McNaught 46).