Brown: Cove have got right quality to beat Auchinleck Talbot in Scottish Cup replay

Jordon Brown says Cove Rangers have the quality to finish the job against Auchinleck Talbot in the Scottish Cup.

Saturday’s second-round tie at the Balmoral Stadium finished 1-1 with the replay taking place at Beechwood Park this weekend.

Despite not being able to hold on to their lead in the first game Brown believes the Highland League champions have enough to progress.

The midfielder said: “It’s disappointing not to get through because I think we did just enough to win the game.

“I had a good chance in the first half where I hit the post.

“After they scored Jamie Masson has a great chance and 99 times out of 100 he scores.

“For them to score from a penalty we feel a bit hard done by.

“Auchinleck never surprised us. we knew how they were going to play and they are a top Junior side.

“They will take confidence from this, but we’ve got to be confident because we know we’ve got the quality to punish teams like this.

“We weren’t quite at our best on Saturday, but with the chances we created if we score a couple of them it’s a different game.

“We’ve definitely got the quality to win the game down there.”

Cove boss John Sheran was unhappy with Chris Fordyce awarding a penalty from which Talbot equalised.

He added: “What does a player do when a ball is blasted at him from a few yards away?

“Unless the arm is up it’s really hard to see how it could be a penalty, but it was.

“We had chances to win the game, but overall I thought up against a very strong team we performed well.

“We were a bit short for bodies and the players who played did well, and John McCafferty in goal was outstanding.

“We feel we probably should be in the next round, but we just have to make sure next week.”

It took only five minutes for Cove to take the lead. A loose ball fell to Mitch MEGGINSON 20 yards out, he took a touch to control before firing low into the bottom left corner.

The visitors from Ayrshire were content to hit long balls and try to make the game a physical battle.

On 34 minutes it was almost 2-0 when Brown’s back-post header hit the left upright after he met a Blair Yule cross from the right.

At the other end home keeper McCafferty made a good stop to thwart Graham Wilson when he latched on to Dwayne Hislop’s through ball.

Five minutes from the break visiting goalie Andrew Leishman held Eric Watson’s header from Jamie Masson’s free-kick.

On 57 minutes Megginson was thwarted at the near post by Leishman after a flowing move.

Midway through the second period it was 1-1 when Ross Harvey’s shot was adjudged to have hit the hand of home skipper Watson.

WILSON stepped up and sent McCafferty the wrong way.

Cove went straight up the other end and should have been ahead again when Yule’s low centre from the right was side-footed wide by Masson from 12 yards.

With 17 minutes to play Talbot sub Calvin Kemp forced McCafferty into a good stop with a 16-yard strike.

Both sides continued to press for a winner in the closing stages but neither could find one.

Talbot boss Tommy Sloan said: “I’ve no arguments with the result. Both teams had chances to win it but nether grasped them.

“I’ve no complaints with the effort and commitment, especially after we lost an early goal.

“We’ve got a tough task on our hands but we’ve given ourselves a chance in the replay.”