Edinburgh City shock Arbroath to reach Irn-Bru Cup last eight

Edinburgh City came from a goal down to shock Arbroath 4-1 and book their place in the quarter-finals of the Irn-Bru Cup.
Blair HendersonBlair Henderson
Blair Henderson

A brace of penalties from top goalscorer Blair Henderson were sandwiched between strike partner Scott Shepherd’s angled finish after former Livingston winger Michael McKenna had given the Ladbrokes League One table-toppers a tenth-minute lead at Gayfield.

Defender Liam Henderson’s header sealed an emphatic victory with 12 minutes remaining.

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League Two leaders City have been a surprise package this season having won eight out of their opening nine fixtures in Scottish football’s fourth tier. This was expected to be the acid test for James McDonaugh’s men and they passed with flying colours. The Capital outfit thoroughly deserved their victory and you would have been forgiven for assuming they were the side top of League One.

McKenna got the Red Lichties off to a flyer as he capitalised on some slack defending to knock the ball beyond goalkeeper Calum Antell. Blair Henderson then won and converted his first penalty of the evening and Shepherd fired the visitors in front 11 minutes into the second half.

Henderson got his second from 12 yards and 15th of the season in the 68th minute and Liam Henderson put a gloss on the scoreline heading in Craig Thomson’s corner.

“Obviously Arbroath were favourites but we always had the belief in the changing room that we could come here and do well,” Blair Henderson said afterwards.

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“We’re in really good form and if you’re winning games then it just keeps coming. Even when we went 1-0 down we looked like we were always going to score.

“You always want to win every competition but it’s going to be difficult. There are still some really good teams left in the competition so we’ll see who we get in the next round and take it from there.”

Shepherd added: “I thought we were outstanding from start to finish. In my opinion we were well ahead for a team that is top of League One. It shows how far we’ve come as last season as were fighting to stay in the league.”