Hearts come from behind and keep one hand on the cup with a dramatic last minute winner.

Saturday 18th February 2012.

Fife Cup 3rd Round.

Cupar Hearts welcomed league leaders Leven United for the 3rd round of the Fife Cup. A tough encounter was anticipated and Hearts made a dramatic comeback after extra time was needed to separate the sides.

Leven started the brighter of the two teams and Stuart Thomson for the visitors headed wide after 2 minutes. Then David Rowbotham fired a shot goalwards but Stuart Nicoll was on hand to head the ball off the line. Leven took the lead on 17 minutes when a neat chip by Kris Murray found Nathan Austin and he cleverly lobbed the out coming keeper. On the half hour mark a foul on Barry Sibanda on the edge of the box gave Hearts a set piece opportunity. Iain Boylan’s free kick was cleared off the line and Barry Sibanda headed over. Then good work by Boylan and Sibanda found Michael Reilly out wide but his cross was easily gathered by Gary Mitchell in the visiting goal. Two minutes later Hearts were caught on the break when a good run by Nathan Austin found Scott Maywell but his shot was well saved by Steven McEwan and then cleared by Stephen Gilfillan. With one minute of the half remaining Nathan Austin found himself through on goal and brought the best out of McEwan who did well to tip the ball round the post. Hearts couldn’t clear the danger from the resultant corner however, and Stuart Thomson fired the ball through a ruck of players and into net to double the visitors lead.

With it all to do, Hearts were straight on the attack and a good combination by Stephen Gilfillan and Iain Boylan almost decreased the deficit but Gary Mitchell did well to save. But it didn’t take long for Cupar to pull one back in spectacular fashion. A Stephen Gilfillan corner found Iain Boylan who blasted the ball in from the edge of the box. That man would go one better 8 minutes later when his excellent free kick rounded the defensive wall and went straight into the top corner giving the keeper no chance and levelling the scores. Hearts made two substitutions with Gary Reilly and David Simspon replacing Stuart Nicoll and Michael Reilly respectfully. With time running out and extra time looming both teams pushed for that all important winner. Barry Sibanda and Iain Boylan both had efforts saved for the home side while Nathan Austin and Scott Maywell for the visitors had shots off target and so an additional 30 minutes were required.

A terrible mistake by Iain O’Leary gifted the visitors a penalty and Martin Bilan made no mistake from the spot. Cupar equalised 7 minutes into the second period of extra time when a flick on from Stephen Gilfillan was deflected in by a Leven defender. Penalty kicks looked likely with the clock ticking down but with the last action of the match Hearts were awarded a free kick out wide. Stephen Gilfillan fired the ball straight into the net for an excellent finish and to the delight of the home support. It was a hard fought victory but credit to Hearts for a spirited comeback and they now await the winners of Bowhill v Eastvale in the quarter finals.

Ceres Butchers meat tray winner was D. Lumsden (Cupar).

Cupar: McEwan, Halley, McInroy, Anderson (c), Gilfillan, Fraser, Nicoll, Boylan, O’Leary, Sibanda and M. Reilly. Subs: Crawford, Beveridge, Rintoul, G. Reilly, Kane, Simpson and McShane.