Newton Stewart produced an “absolutely huge” result for the South of Scotland League on Saturday.
The Blairmount Park side knocked West of Scotland League Premier Division side Cambuslang Rangers out of the SFA South Region Challenge Cup thanks to a Robert Middleton goal.
The win put The Creesiders through to the fourth round of the cup for the first time and comes on the back of their Scottish Cup exploits where they eliminated Preston Athletic.
Co-manager Michael Houston said: “It’s brilliant for the club. The committee said before the Preston game it was 30 years since we’d last won outside Dumfries and Galloway and that’s now twice in one season.
“It’s absolutely huge. I spoke to Richard Osbourne, the league secretary, and he said it’s massive for the south. It was good to see Lochar Thistle doing well and Abbey Vale ran East Kilbride close too.
“The South of Scotland maybe does get looked down upon at times and we’ve done ourselves no harm on Saturday.
“We spoke to their committee after the game, who were brand new and couldn’t have congratulated us more.
“They were telling us about the finances they put into the club, how much they spend on players and it’s absolutely crazy we got a result.
“We were missing seven players, had an 18-year-old up front and a 17-year-old who came from Galloway Thistle last season. They were asking about him and Marc Whyte after the game.
“The boys put in absolutely top drawer performances. We went with a game plan, played nine men behind the ball and let them have the majority of possession until they came into our half.
“We went with two physical boys up front to try to relieve the pressure and it seemed to work in our favour.”
Newton’s reward is a home game against Lowland League high fliers Stirling University in the fourth round.
“Stirling Uni will be another tough test. They put Darvel out on Sunday and are second in the Lowland League. They’re up there for a reason and it’ll be a
tough test.”
