The dream of a big day out at Hampden (or anywhere else for that matter) died a death as Lossie stumbled at the first hurdle in the Scottish Cup. Whitehill Welfare secured passage to the Second Round draw with a 3-1 victory in an entertaining affair, with a missed penalty, a disallowed goal and some hilarious refereeing thrown in for good measure.

A fine day met the sides as the strolled out onto Grant Park for the grounds second Scottish Cup game in three years, something close to a habit compared to the clubs overall history in the tournament, with Whitehill easy favourites with the bookies at 1/4 and Lossie rank outsiders at 6/1.

The home side started on the defensive, with Whitehill eager to take advantage of Lossies recent problems and get the early goal to settle the game down. For all their pressing, however, it was Lossie who had the first effort on goal, with Graeme Wilson landing a long range effort on the roof of the net.

The visitors took the lead in the 18^th minute when a quick counter attack saw Lossie caught cold at the back, and Gary CALVEY found himself with the time and space twelve yards from goal to shoot across McConnachie to open the scoring.

Lossie were offered a chance to level on the half hour when the referee awarded the Coasters a free kick in front of the box for what was barely a foul David Blackhall stepped up and curled a lazy shot towards goal which the Welfare keeper held on to, but after recent weeks any shot on target is a good one. Lossie continued to hold Whitehill and Martin McMullan saw his goalbound header cleared short of the line.

Whitehill were itching to score again and should have doubled their lead minutes before the break when Andrew Doig deflected a Darren Pryde free kick across the face of goal, only for there to be no takers for an easy scoring chance. Shortly after, Scott Gormley sprinted free of Rattray and lined up a shot, only to pass it weakly into the arms of McConnachie. 

Half time – Lossiemouth 0 Whitehill Welfare 1

Instead, Lossie decided to save the cheap goal for the second half, and duly conceded it a minute into the half. A low corner was turned into the box and Gary CALVEY was on hand to deflect it past a sleeping Lossie defence.

Things got worse minutes later as Whitehill all but put the game to bed with a killer third goal, with some silky passing leading to a low shot across the box for Andrew DOIG to rifle home from a yard.

It could have become embarrassing soon after as Whitehill were handed the now traditional Morag Pirie Penalty Award. Ms Pirie took offence at Darren Watson’s well-timed challenge and offered Scott Gormley the chance to bury Lossie. Justice was done as McConnachie guessed correctly to block the strikers’ poor effort at a spot kick, and the danger was cleared.

The home side put the ball in the net soon after, with David Blackhall putting the ball away from close range after a Morrison free kick struck the base of the post. To the consternation of all, the linesman flagged for offside and for what seemed like the first time in the game, the referee duly agreed with her linesman and disallowed the perfectly good effort.

Lossie did pull one back with fifteen minutes remaining, when Mark WOOD drilled home from the edge of the box, past a keeper who looked like he was sleeping when the shot was hit.

The last real chance fell to Swamson of Whitehill, who found himself clean through on McConnachie and tried a fancy lob over Mini as he raced out of goal, tipping the ball onto the bar as he came out.

Full time – Lossiemouth 1 Whitehill Welfare 3

Team