Coldstream 1

SCOTTISH CUP FIRST ROUND

ALL roads lead to Coldstream for the Selkirk football fraternity this weekend for a do-or-die Scottish Cup first round replay.

There will be no second chances this week. And the Yarrow Park outfit are under no illusions about what they have to do.

Chairman Jim Moody told The Wee Paper: "There is a lot at stake in this game and everyone knows they have to put 100 per cent into it.

"We are at full strength with no injury problems, so we are as ready as we are ever going to be. We have had better results away from home this season than we have had at Yarrow Park, so playing the replay at Coldstream should not be a problem for us.

"We have the pace to attack them and that is what we intend to do."

For the winners of tomorrow's game, a lucrative second-round tie against Dalbeattie Star awaits – for the losers, a long journey home.

Moody and coach Paul Brownlee agree that last weekend's match was nothing to write home about, but they feel that tomorrow they will see a change of tack from both sides.

Brownlee added: "The replay is a different game, but we will need the same effort and commitment. We have yet to decide on exactly how we are going to play against Coldstream, but it's good to know that everyone is available and fit."

Last Saturday only the final three minutes of the game were noted as memorable and it seemed Coldstream were set for the second round at Dalbeattie Star when Mark Bolton headed his side ahead after 88 minutes.

But the celebrations of the Coldstream bench were repeated in the Selkirk dugout minutes later as Lee Stephen confidently tucked away a stoppage-time penalty after referee Paul Reid spotted a foul by David Brown on Euan Pritchard.

Brownlee said: "Lee won a penalty competition at training so he took it. I thought when they scored it was done."

Both Brownlee and Coldsteam boss Peter McNulty also used the phrase "typical Borders derby" to describe the game.

But the match was largely devoid of any quality that both managers would have strived for.

The first half in, particular, was as featureless as the Sahara Desert.

The correct result was probably achieved, but both teams know an improvement in performance is required if they are to make their Scottish Cup appearances more than just a flitting introduction to the main acts.

Selkirk: Dodds, Stephen, Melvin, Wilson, Waldie, McShane, Craggs (Kerr 90), Mair, Munro (Smith 86), Pritchard, Romaines.

z A free bus will leave Market Place tomorrow at 12.30pm. At the time of going to print there were 25 seats available, these will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.