Bo'ness United ace Michael Gemmell eyeing major shock at Greenock Morton in next round of Scottish Cup

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After Tom Grant’s late goal sealed a 1-0 win at 10-man Luncarty last weekend, Bo’ness United player/assistant manager Michael Gemmell says he’s relishing the prospect of taking on Scottish Championship strugglers Greenock Morton away from home in the next round of the Scottish Cup.

Gemmell, 37, who came on as a half-time substitute for the Scottish Lowland Football League outfit in the victory at the East of Scotland League Premier Division strugglers on Saturday, is optimistic United will acquit themselves well at Dougie Imrie’s team in round three on Saturday, November 25, kick-off 3pm.

“We’re certainly not going there looking to make up the numbers,” Gemmell told the Falkirk Herald. “We are quite confident that we’ll be able to go there, set up well, prepare the boys well and we’ll be looking to shock Morton and land a cup upset.

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"That’s the glory and benefits in these ties. We’ve certainly taken confidence of some of the results in this round, some of the teams within the SPFL who have been put out by teams below us.

Bo'ness United stalwart Michael Gemmell (Library pic by Alan Murray)Bo'ness United stalwart Michael Gemmell (Library pic by Alan Murray)
Bo'ness United stalwart Michael Gemmell (Library pic by Alan Murray)

"You look at what Darvel did last year, I think everyone looked on in awe and we are hoping to one day emulate that.

"This gives us the opportunity to go and get a result and continue what’s been a good season so far.”

The BUs’ narrow win at Luncarty – who had Sean Fergus sent off late on after bringing down Ryan Porteous – saw the away team rely on some good saves from goalkeeper Musa Dibaga.

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“We got there in the end,” Gemmell said. “There wasn’t much in the game.

"It was quite a tight park, quite a heavy park and a typical Scottish Cup tie where the first goal was always going to be big.

"We had a couple of half chances to go in front at half-time and then to be fair to Luncarty they came out and put us under a bit of pressure.

"They had a long throw, which is quite an effective weapon, and they had several long throw-ins that we had to deal with in the second half.

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"At 0-0, they actually scored with a throw-in which went straight into the net but it was disallowed because nobody touched the ball on its way in.

“They had another long throw about five minutes later and big Musa came out, caught it and dropped it. It slipped out his hands and the ball was bouncing about the six-yard box, but we survived thankfully.

"Hats off to Luncarty, they managed to frustrate us and make the game very difficult but once we got the first goal we pushed on from there.

"Musa made a really good save in the last minute to thankfully avoid extra time and ensure that we progressed to the next round."

The BUs, who have a home game against East Kilbride tomorrow (Wednesday, kick-off 7.45pm) are also at home to Cowdenbeath in the league this Saturday with kick-off at 3pm.

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