Kelty Hearts 1-0 St Johnstone: League 2 side stun Scottish Cup holders in extra time
- Published
Kallum Higginbotham's goal gave League 2 leaders Kelty Hearts victory
Fourth tier Kelty Hearts pulled off a significant Scottish Cup shock by stunning struggling holders St Johnstone in the fourth round at Central Park.
After a goalless 90 minutes, veteran forward Kallum Higginbotham broke clear to net an extra-time winner for the runaway League 2 leaders.
The sobering defeat extends the losing run of the Premiership's bottom side to 10 matches and leaves Callum Davidson's side in crisis just seven months on from completing a historic cup double.
After this dream win, Kelty will face another top-tier opponent, this time travelling to face St Mirren on the weekend of 12/13 February.
On the flipside of St Johnstone's losing streak, Kelty went into the game having lost just one of their last 23 games in all competitions. They are too good for their division, while their visitors are perhaps not good enough for theirs.
But the gulf is still significant and the Fifers only went in level at half-time thanks to goalkeeper Darren Jamieson, who denied the top-flight side with a stunning double save.
Firstly, Jamieson was at full stretch down to his left to tip away a Chris Kane header before he clawed away Ali Crawford's curling effort to the top-right corner.
Kelty were comfortable against a woeful St Johnstone, but Kevin Thomson's side failed to cause a real threat in attack.
The holders tried to up the tempo after the break, with Liam Gordon and Jacob Butterfield going close with efforts from outside the box.
Nadir Ciftci also failed to hit the target with a header and side-foot volley. But in truth, all were half chances as Kelty reduced the away side to ambitious shots and desperate crosses.
The closest St Johnstone came was with an extra-time free-kick as Crawford crashed a set-piece effort off Jamieson's bar.
But with Davidson's men pushing for a winner, Kelty broke from a St Johnstone corner and delivered the killer blow as Alfie Agyeman fed Higginbotham, who raced clear, kept his cool and rifled past Clark.
St Johnstone did nothing to merit getting back into the game and Kelty could and should have added to their lead when the impressive Agyeman rattled the woodwork.
But 1-0 it would finish, meaning a 10th consecutive defeat for Davidson, who cut a dejected figure in the dugout all afternoon.
Kelty Hearts manager Kevin Thomson: "I said to the players before the game we weren't here to make the numbers up. We wanted to have a go and, to a man, the boys were unbelievable.
"I'm proud of them, proud of the town, proud of all the supporters that got behind us. They're a good full-time team, three divisions above us but at the same time, everybody will know me, if I'm in it, I want to try and win it."
St Johnstone manager Callum Davidson: "The first half was really disappointing. I asked them to do certain things and for the first 30 or 40 minutes, they wouldn't do any of it.
"Second half. we started to do those things and put them under a bit of pressure, but ultimately if you lose a goal as bad as that you don't deserve to go through."