The Hoops made it through to the last 8 of the Scottish Junior Cup after an afternoon of sheer drama. The long trip to East Ayrshire involved whiteout conditions approaching Dundee but we were greeted by sunshine at Muirkirk, with a tricky firm playing surface due to the extreme cold. Games away to West Region opponents are never easy and with former Hearts & Dundee striker Christian Nade leading the line for Muirkirk a tough tie awaited. The first half was a tight affair, both teams had chances with our efforts failing to hit the target whist Bell made a couple of fine saves at the other end meaning it was deadlocked at the interval. The second half was full of incident, the first main talking point seeing us reduced to ten men as a result of a harsh red card for Darren Reid. The tackle was certainly a foul and merited a yellow but a straight red was tough on the midfielder. In the 74th minute things were levelled up when Boyle chopped down Sam Robertson just outside the box and with whistler Hanvidge deeming it a clear goal scoring opportunity the home defender also saw red. Muirkirk thought they had taken the lead on 3 occasions only for the inspired Bell to keep them out and with the game heading towards a penalty shoot out the winner arrived after 87 minutes. The ball was worked to Craig Mackie 12 yards out and he kept his composure to slot the ball past Bogle in the home goal. The action was far from finished though with Ryan Wallace also receiving his marching orders for a tackle in the middle of our half in stoppage time leaving us to see out the game with just nine men. Also in added time Muirkirk were awarded a penalty, but Bell confirmed his already secured man of the match status by throwing himself to his left to push away Gray’s spot kick and secure a memorable victory which sets up a quarter final tie at Ian Mair Park against Glasgow side Yoker Athletic.