'˜Worst for long time' as Linlithgow limp dismally out of Scottish Cup

Mark Bradley said his Linlithgow team 'surrendered' against Beith. Pic: SNS

Beith simply bullied them into submission from the kick-off and the Rose failed to live up to their reputation of old. Linlithgow teams of the past would have at least put up a fight for control of the game, but on Saturday they allowed themselves to be overrun, letting themselves and their big travelling support down.

This team took the field on the reputation of players like Danny Smith and Graeme Landels, but they were sadly lacking in the fight those players would give you.

Boss Mark Bradley was hurting afterwards and said: “I warned the players before what the game would be like and when they crossed the line they had to stand up and be counted. That didn’t happen.

“We limped out of the cup with no-one getting pass marks. Beith were good and we wish them all the best but we let ourselves, the support and the club down with a performance like that.

“That’s the worst I’ve seen for a long time. There’s no point in saying we’ll bounce back from this, this result hurts the people at the club, mainly the support. There was no fight, no passion, nothing. We surrendered the game right from the kick-off.”

When you are drawn against a side from Ayrshire you had better be prepared to fight tooth and nail to get any kind of a result, but Linlithgow showed nothing of this.

Beith took the game to Linlithgow right from the start and Rose couldn’t handle it. Jamie Wilson scored a 40-yard screamer straight down the middle of the goal which caught keeper Kyle Marley sleeping and veteran central defender John Sheridan headed a second in the 15th minute to take the teams in at the break with Beith 2-0 up.

The big travelling support were looking for a response at the start of the second half but they were in for a disappointment. After only three minutes Marley dropped a harmless cross at the feet of Darren Christie and he had the simplest of jobs to roll the ball over the line. Shortly after that goal Linlithgow had Gary Thom sent off for a double booking, not for bad tackles but talking back to a very inconsistent referee.

Now down to ten men, the game was over but not before Beith’s Paul Frize hit a terrific fourth for the Ayrshire side.

Beith: Grindley, McGlinchey, Noble, N Docherty, Sheridan, Wilson, Christie Frize, Milliken, Collins, Bradley. Subs: McPherson, McGowan, Middleton, R Docherty, Green, Miller.

Linlithgow: Marley, Gray, Turnbull, Thom, Ovenstone, Barbour, Batchelor, Ru MacLennan, Ro MacLennan, Coyne, Ronald. Subs: Sloan, Strickland, Watt, Smith, Urquhart, MacKinnon, McLean.