Elgin City manager Allan Hale is dreaming of an away tie against a top Scottish Premiership side after a thrilling 4-2 win over Stirling Albion in the cup.
City were seconds away from exiting the Scottish Cup at the third round stage, before Jack Murray’s 96th-minute equaliser forced extra-time, where Murray and Kane Hester scored to seal a thrilling victory.
Elgin City manager Allan Hale (left) and assistant manager Stefan Laird. Picture: Daniel Forsyth
Now, attention turns to the fourth round – where City met Aberdeen at Borough Briggs last season – and the hopes are for a top side away from home.
The draw is being screened on BBC Scotland, with coverage starting at 7.15pm and the draw itself expected to start at around 8pm.
Hale said: “We are just delighted to be in the draw, first and foremost.
“For the board, I would love for a top four away tie. It would be a great experience for the players.It would be a good reward for the players for getting there.
“We’ve created a bit of history for ourselves today because it’s the first SPFL Elgin team that’s got to the fourth round of the Scottish Cup two years in succession.
“We’ll see what the draw brings. We experienced a home tie this year, so it’ll be good to get a big tie away give the board a bit of reward for their efforts as well.”
Hale was relieved to see his side progress through the third round – admitting they put him through the ringer in the 4-2 win over Stirling.
“I’m absolutely drained, to be honest,” he said after the game. “Emotionally, you’ve gone through every single emotion possible in that game and that’s what the cup does.
“We thought the first half was excellent. We had a lot of control, created a lot of openings. Got the goal right in half-time, which I felt was deserved.
“The second half, I actually thought we were really poor. I thought for large parts of the second half, Stirling deservedly got ahead.
“But I just felt that something was going to drop and we were going to score.
“The players never give up and we’ll fight to the very end. We had to do that in order to force extra time. Then we’ve shown our quality again and deservedly went through.
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