Darvel's Scottish Cup dreams come to an end
Falkirk ran out easy 5-1 winners at Recreation Park
Last updated 14th Feb 2023
Darvel's Scottish Cup dreams were ended by ruthless Falkirk as the Bairns ran out easy 5-1 winners at Recreation Park.
The non-league outfit from Ayrshire captured the imagination of the country with their 1-0 home win over cinch Premiership side Aberdeen in the fourth round.
The West of Scotland Premier Division champions had also earlier dismissed League One side Montrose but the Bairns proved to have too much quality.
Two goals in two minutes midway through the first half through striker Gary Oliver and Callumn Morrison seemed to put the visitors well in control.
Darvel pulled a goal back thanks to a horrific mistake by Bairns goalkeeper PJ Morrison when he turned an Ian McShane cross into his own net.
Mick Kennedy's side gave everything in order to level the tie but Craig McGowan was sent off by referee Willie Collum in the 77th minute for a second yellow card offence before Liam Henderson headed in a third and then further goals from Aidan Nesbitt and substitute Craig McGuffie set up a home quarter-final tie against Championship side Ayr United.
Around 900 Falkirk fans were in the crowd of just under 3,000 and they were hoping they would not be Darvel's next victims.
Darvel boss Mick Kennedy insisted that there were so many positives to take from the cup run.
He said: "It's been astonishing. For a club at our level to get this far is absolutely astonishing.
"And also to push Falkirk this far for long spells before we go down to 10 men, it's an astonishing achievement from the players and everyone connected with the club.
"Now it's about picking everybody up and focusing on the journey that lies ahead.
"This is about us showing we can be at that level, proving to the town and supporters that if they get behind us we can achieve remarkable things. This cup journey has shown that.
"We just need to move forward now. My job is to pick everybody back up, then we focus on football on Saturday."