SACKED Gretna gaffer Chris Humphrey has blamed ‘restraints beyond his control’ for him losing his job on Saturday.

The 32-year-old Jamaican international, who scored in the 5-1 defeat against Kelty Hearts, was shown the door by chairman Alex Thomson following the Qualifying Cup exit.

Humphrey, who had spells at West Brom, Motherwell and Hibernian as a player, responded: “I’ve been completely dedicated to the role, leaving retirement to become player-manager.

“I was able to successfully attract talent from Premier League academies, but despite this, restraints beyond my control led to results not meeting expectations.”

Assistant manager John Foley was also fired following the defeat at New Central Park.

Nathan Austin netted a first-half hat-trick for Kelty with Scott Linton and Ross Philip also scoring in the fourth-round clash.

Defender Jamie McCormack believes his BSC Glasgow can claim the Lowland League after extending an unbeaten run to 16 matches with a 1-0 win over Berwick Rangers.

Both teams had a player sent off during the clash at Shielfield Park.

But the former Morton player believes the tight victory can help his team go on and overhaul Bonnyrigg, East Stirlingshire and Kelty.

McCormack said: “We are right behind the top three now and all we can do is keep winning.

“Not many teams will come to Berwick and win – they showed how tough they are and we struggled to break them down.

“There was always the chance that we’d be a bit flat today after the highs of beating East Fife last in the Scottish Cup last week but we got the job done.

“It’s been a while since we lost a game and we just need to keep things going.”

A second-half Thomas Collins penalty was all that separated the sides after home keeper Mark Walters had fouled Martin Gehan.

Ciaren Chalmers had already been red-carded for Berwick after 14 minutes with BSC substitute Declan Hughes also given his marching orders in the closing stages.

Berwick boss Ian Little said: “We showed a lot of character and can count ourselves unlucky today.

“BSC are one of the top teams in this league yet we matched them for most of the match with 10 men.”