(Reuters) – Sixth-tier minnows Darvel sprung one of the Scottish Cup’s biggest upsets on Monday with a 1-0 win over Premiership side Aberdeen.
Jordan Kirkpatrick’s 19th minute goal at Recreation Park gave the Ayrshire team a shock lead and goalkeeper Chris Truesdale pulled off a series of saves in the second half as they held on for a famous fourth-round win.
“I’m meant to be at work so I need to phone my boss and see if I can get the night off, “Kirkpatrick told BBC Scotland.
“It will take a few days to digest how big a shock this is. It wasn’t even the best of strikes. It was one of those where you hope it hits the back of the net and it does.”
Truesdale, a school teacher by day, made three instinctive stops to deny Ryan Duncan and Luis Lopes from close range in the second half.
“I’ve got school in the morning,” Truesdale said when asked about the celebrations. “I don’t think we’ll get much sleep tonight.”
Aberdeen have won the tournament seven times and the embarrassing defeat comes almost 40 years after one of their greatest triumphs when Alex Ferguson guided them to a European Cup Winners’ Cup final victory over Real Madrid in 1983.
The result piles more pressure on manager Jim Goodwin, whose side were thrashed 5-0 at Heart of Midlothian last week and have lost seven of their last nine games and sit fifth in the league.
Darvel, who compete in the West of Scotland League Premier Division, host third-tier Falkirk in the next round.
“It’s remarkable what you achieve when you believe in each other,” Darvel manager Mick Kennedy said.
“From the first day I came here I told the board we are going to build something special.”
(Reporting by Hritika Sharma in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
