Dundee scrape past Lowland League side Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic to narrowly avoid worst defeat in over 60 years – Osman Sow winner spares blushes after Rosey Posey twice take lead
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A brace of penalties from Bonnyrigg Rose’s Lee Currie, having scored a hat-trick of spot-kicks in the previous round, came close to costing Dundee dearly at Dens Park.
The Championship side went from training on the beach at Broughty Ferry last week to almost being given an almighty Scottish Cup dunking at the hands of their Lowland League visitors. It wasn’t as if James McPake’s side were understrength, either.
Despite the impression given by their seaside larks, the manager sent out a strong side, one which included former Liverpool midfielder Charlie Adam. There were only two changes to the team which had performed so impressively against Hearts seven days earlier in a similar Saturday night slot on national television. Dundee went from turning it on in front of the cameras to nearly being hugely embarrassed.
On-loan Celtic forward Jonathan Afolabi’s equaliser in the fourth minute of time added on saved Dundee from their worst defeat since Highland League side Fraserburgh knocked them out of the same competition in 1959. That, at least, was away from home.
Bonnyrigg made this reference seem relevant once more when they went ahead again on the stoke of half-time in extra-time after Jordan Marshall was judged to have pushed substitute Ross Gray in the back. Currie converted impeccably again, into the other corner this time.
But a header from Lee Ashcroft, shortly into the second period of extra-time, saw Dundee claw their way back into proceedings before Osman Sow converted a rebound after Danny Mullen’s shot was saved by the superb Mark Weir to put the home side ahead for the first time in the evening.
The first penalty award was a contentious one but that is still not a reasonable excuse for Dundee failing to give their opponents something to think about until so late on in the proceedings, and, even then, the Championship side lived dangerously.
Currie’s first strike came midway through the first half after Dean Hoskins was felled while in the act of shooting by Jordon Forster, though replays seemed to show that the Bonnyrigg Rose player was the one who kicked the Dundee defender. Currie, who scored a hat-trick of penalties in the previous round against Bo’ness United, made no mistake, shooting in low to Jack Hamilton’s left.
Dundee should already have been behind by the time Currie struck for the first time. Hoskins’ hopeful ball saw George Hunter get the better of Forster but he could not find the finish required from close range although Hamilton did pull off a terrific one- handed save to his right.
Weir, the Rosey Posey goalkeeper, was man of the match beyond question, tipping a long-range effort from Sow over, then saving a point-blank header from Paul McGowan and a later one from Ashcroft.
Perhaps the pick of his stops came towards the end of the 90 minutes when Dundee started piling on the pressure, and he saved brilliantly again from Sow before Afolabi tucked in the rebound, with seconds remaining.
Somehow, the visitors picked themselves up off the floor in extra-time to get themselves within 15 minutes of victory again. However, two goals from the hosts in the second-half of extra-time, from Ashcroft and Sow, meant it was not to be a historic night at Dens – but what a memorable one.
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