Marvel in Darvel: town basks in glory after unlikeliest win
Darvel #Darvel
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