John McKeown hailed his depleted Shotts side for booking their place in round two of the Scottish Junior Cup with a revenge win over league rivals Cumbernauld United.
The Hannah Park boss watched his side atone for a 4-1 defeat to United in the West of Scotland League First Division a fortnight ago with a 2-0 victory at Guy’s Meadow on Saturday, courtesy of strikes from John McStay and Blane McDade.
And the victory was all the more pleasing given the injury blows The Bonny suffered before and during the game.
McKeown said: “We’d taken a sore one there a few weeks ago so it was a great win for us, especially as we had a lot to contend with before the game.
“We had some big players missing. Our goalkeeper Johnny Murdoch was suspended, our vice-captain Paul McGeough is out for some time with a fractured ankle and Chris Meikle - our player of the year - did his hamstring in the warm-up.
“Our striker Kyle Richford got taken off after five minutes as well with a head injury so through the spine of the team we were pretty short.
“But the kids who came in were great. Our keeper Daniel Graham was just in from 21s football, our centre back were 19 and 21, then big John McStay came on after an injury lay-off and was excellent, scoring the first goal.
"Sometimes the boys dig a bit deeper when that happens, but I thought it was a deserved win and we played decent football at times.”
The Bonny’s reward for their victory is a trip to Montrose Roselea in round two on September 24.
McKeown added: “It’s a wee bus journey for the boys now, but they’ll enjoy that.
“I’ve not come up against Montrose before but we’ll do our homework on them. It’s just pleasing to get through with all the problems we had.
“Our last two games are 6-0 and 2-0 so it looks like we are on the right path.”
Shotts are back in league action on Saturday when they travel to Thorniewood United.
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