AT the end of a gruelling 90 minutes of football against a top-flight team, the University of Stirling players hauled their aching limbs over towards their fans in the Jim McLean stand. The supporters - 1,047 in all - chanted, waved green flags, and hurled scarves onto the pitch. One or two of the black-clad students don’t know quite how to react, bursting into laughter or shaking their heads in disbelief.
As well they might. This wasn’t one of the great Scottish Cup upsets that was being sung about by friends, family and teammates, voices hoarse and cries chasing after the Dundee United fans, who had long since made their way out into the night.
By this stage of proceedings, Stirling were out, swatted aside 3-0 by the Premiership team, their dreams of reaching an unthinkably far round in the cup strewn across the pitch. But the pride told its own story.
