Marvel in Darvel: town basks in glory after unlikeliest win

Standing outside the Black Bull Inn, Kevin McManus was struggling to take things in. The last 24 hours, he admitted, had been a bit surreal, and the atmosphere just a tiny bit mad.

McManus is landlord of a pub in the middle of Darvel, the little town in Ayrshire that has just made footballing history. On Monday evening, in front of a crowd roughly equivalent to the town’s entire population of 3,900, the local XI, including jobbing tradesmen and a teacher-turned-goalkeeper, defeated Aberdeen, one of the giants of the Scottish Premier League.

In so doing, they became the first non-league side to knock a top flight team out of the Scottish Cup.

Kevin McManus, landlord of the Black Bull, admitted that some of his regulars would need “a wee ­curer” the day after their team’s astounding victory

ROBERT PERRY FOR THE TIMES

To put this in perspective, Darvel will play Arthurlie at the weekend