'Spartans ecstatic' says giant-killing manager Dougie Samuel

Spartans manager Dougie Samuel said his club were ecstatic after they came from behind to knock Greenock Morton out of the Scottish Cup.

The Lowland League giant-killers had previously defeated Clyde, and goals from Willie Bremner and Jack Beesley booked their place in the last 16.

"The players in the second half were magnificent," Samuel told BBC Scotland.

"When we scored we were certainly going to go for the win - we weren't playing for the replay, that's for sure."

Scottish League One leaders Morton took a first-half lead through Andrew Barrowman, but had Stefan McCluskey sent off for two bookable offences.

In front of Scotland manager Gordon Strachan, Spartans took full advantage of their one-man advantage and now await Monday's fifth-round draw.

"It's wonderful," said Samuel. "I think I've been really lucky in the last month to walk off this pitch and be surrounded by lots and lots of people from the Spartans family who are clearly ecstatic and really enjoyed their day.

"It was lovely to see him [Strachan] and that adds a bit of icing on the cake at the end of the day, and he's been a patron of our charity for a number of years now.

"It made it extra special that he was able to come down and support the boys.

"It was a much bigger challenge for us today, made all the more difficult by our performance in the first half. I felt we were a little bit passive, we didn't keep the ball as well as we can.

"We were a little bit fortunate to go in at half-time 1-0 down, but we were still in the game.

"In the second half we were able to get on the front foot early, create one or two half chances and it just gave us a little bit of confidence and for the first time put a bit of self doubt into the minds of the Morton players."