In the eyes of many a harrumphing cynic, the Irn Bru Cup remains an unsightly concoction that may as well have been devised in the same lab where Victor Frankenstein conducted some of his more grotesque experiments. Colt teams here, English National League clubs there, Irish and Welsh outfits everywhere? It’s the kind of carbuncle that could’ve won the Plook on the Plinth award. Don’t say that to Paul Doswell and his Sutton United troops, though. They’ll be getting free crates from the sponsors for their enthusiasm. For those sturdy fans of a more intrepid nature, Sutton’s expedition north from south west London to Airdrie was the kind of arduous hike that would’ve had Hannibal turning to his legions at Keele services and saying ‘sod this lads, we’ll just head back’. An 844 mile round trip certainly wasn’t for the casual, fair-weather supporter.
It was worth the trek. This win may not have generated the same headlines as Sutton’s famous FA Cup conquest over Coventry back in 1989 but a cup win is a cup win. “This cup is something different and it's great for us to come to a stadium like this with a decent crowd,” enthused Doswell. “They were a pretty vociferous lot.”
Readers of a certain vintage will recall the old Texaco Cup, that Scots-Irish-English amalgam that Airdrie reached the final of in 1972. A combined total of some 40,000 over two legs watched them lose 2-1 to Derby County. Here in 2018, this cross-border coming together of the third-placed team in Scottish League One and the side sitting seventh in the Vanarama National League down south was greeted by a more modest, some may say discerning, viewership.
Doswell had done his homework. “Airdrie looked decent, like a Conference National or League Two team but two or three teams that they have played would not be much above the Ryman Premier,” he observed before the match. Damned by faint praise? Whatever the pre-match assessment, Airdrie certainly found the going tough in a physical, feisty tussle that featured plenty of crash, a fair dose of bang and a good dollop of wallop.
The hosts were at full strength. Sutton, meanwhile, made six changes from the team that beat Maidstone earlier in the week. Their goalkeeper, Ross Worner, was making his first appearance since February 2017 when he was the Sutton custodian for the small matter of an FA Cup tie with Arsenal. And now he was in Airdrie. The romance of the Irn Bru Cup eh?
After Airdrie’s Dale Carrick had squandered a chance when clean through, Sutton forged ahead. Tommy Wright outmuscled Kieran MacDonald and thundered in a low strike of clinical authority.
Wright, a lively bundle of menace up front, was a real pest and he came within a whisker of adding a second after the resumption when another low effort was tipped round the post. That close call came moments after Scott Robertson had fluffed Airdrie’s best chance with a free header from six yards.
The match clattered on at a sprightly pace. Airdrie almost nabbed an equaliser in the last knockings but Carrick’s acrobatic effort was parried by an equally acrobatic Worner. "Can we draw Peterhead?" asked one visiting media man keen on exploring further north. Unfortunately, Peterhead are oot. Sutton march on, though.
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