Brora boss hails Highland triumph in adversity with Hearts cup shock
The manager of the current HFL champions believes their domestic limbo galvanised the Cattachs in their cup upset
Brora Rangers boss Steven MacKay says the magnitude of their Scottish Cup giant-killing still hasn't sunk in.
MacKay hailing the "unbelievable night" which will live long in the memory of the players, fans and everyone connected with the club.
The Cattachs set up a home tie with Stranraer after their sensational Second Round victory over runaway Championship leaders Hearts, which came against the odds, given the Highland League's long-term shut-down from competitive action.
Brora won a friendly against Buckie 3-1 at the weekend, but in terms of matches, their last game proper was the 2-1 First Round success at Camelon Juniors on January 11th.
Speaking to MFR News on the cup upset, a tired - though elated - MacKay said, "I think under normal circumstances, if our league had been running, it would've been a significant result"
"But you couple that with our lack of competitive action, it's an unbelievable achievement from the players"
"We'd had only five training training sessions - and a weekend friendly - so from a preparation perspective, you bring all that together, it just puts the players' achievement into perspective"
"when everything's going against you... it has the chance to galvanise a team and have the opposite effect..." - Brora boss Steven MacKay
Brora have notably dispatched several Scottish League sides in recent history, but few bookies gave them much hope of seeing off the losing Scottish Cup finalists, with the Tynecastle outfit expected to roll-over the Cattachs.
That said, MacKay was confident that another major scalp was on the cards, "I just felt, and I said in the team talk, that we genuinely had a chance of winning"
"I said, I know you think I'm crazy, but I genuinely feel we've got the chance to do something special here"
"It's just when everything's going against you and there's adversity, then it has the chance to galvanise a team and have the opposite effect, helping you pull a performance out of nowhere"
"Internally we had a secret hope we could do it, but for the players to go out and execute that on the night is just unbelievable"
Brora's Jordan MacRae saw his opener cancelled out by Christophe Berra in the second half, but despite many believing the chance had then gone, Martin MacLean sent the Highland League champions into the next round with a 2-1 success.
It was the same side that faced Camelon in the last phase of the cup, and MacKay said they were confident of gaining a foothold in the game.
"We just told the players to bed themselves in for the first 20 minutes, make it really awkward for Hearts, we didn't necessarily feel they'd enjoy coming to Brora - the journey first and foremost"
"But the wind it was quite strong initially, it was a bit wet with it raining, it made it an uncomfortable evening for them"
"That played into our hands and gave us a little advantage, but we always hoped if we got a chance we could take it and Jordan MacRae did exactly that - an unbelieveable strike!"
"The half-time team talk was easy then, because we just said, we're half-way there boys"
"If that 45 minutes doesn't give you the confidence to go on and do the same second half then you'll never have it - you have a great opportunity to create a bit of history here"
"We knew Hearts would come back at us - but the togetherness, the desire that the players showed, I don't think anyone can deny that or deny that we deserved the result"
A few years back, Brora went down to Stair Park and saw off Stranraer 1-0 - thanks to a goal from Cup-tie MacKay in stoppage time - so come April 3rd the Cattchs will be hoping for a re-run of that 2017 success to make the last-16.