Brora Rangers upset Championship leaders Hearts in major Scottish Cup shock

Hearts were losing Scottish Cup finalists in December 2020
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George Flood23 March 2021

Brora Rangers are celebrating one of the biggest giant-killings in the history of the Scottish Cup after ousting Hearts from the competition in sensational fashion.

The Highland League part-timers stunned Robbie Neilson’s Championship leaders 2-1 in the second-round tie on Tuesday night.

Martin MacLean netted the decisive goal 15 minutes from time shortly after Christophe Berra had equalised following Jordan MacRae’s early opener for the plucky hosts.

The result is being lamented by Hearts fans as arguably the worst their club - who lost to Celtic on penalties in a dramatic 2019/20 Scottish Cup final at Hampden Park in December - has ever suffered, while Brora advance to face fourth-tier Stranraer in the third round.

Such an achievement is made even more impressive when you consider that Brora have not played competitively since beating Camelon Juniors in the first round of the Scottish Cup back on January 11, with the Highland League still suspended.

The full-time whistle brought passionate celebrations from the home players that social media footage showed continued into the dressing room.

“In a normal season this would have been an astronomical result but you throw in the circumstances that surrounded this game: we haven’t played since the first week of January, we have had five training sessions and one friendly and that’s it,” said Brora manager Steven MacKay, whose team have played just three league matches in the last year owing to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We had no right whatsoever to win this game but the character of this group of players is unbelievable and I’m so privileged to be the manager of such an incredible team.

“You won’t believe me, but I said in the dressing room I had a funny feeling we could do something tonight.

“This will come as a massive shock to most but internally we had an inkling that we could do something special.”

It seems unlikely that the shock loss will affect Hearts’ bid for an instant return to the Scottish Premiership, with Neilson’s side currently sitting 16 points clear of nearest challengers Raith, Dunfermline and Dundee after 21 matches.

However, Neilson is desperate for his players to show a quick reaction to a result that he labelled as an “embarrassment”.

"Firstly, credit to Brora. Although we had a lot of of possession and chances, we didn't put the ball away,” he told the BBC.

"We have remnants of the relegation season still there in the club and we need to deal with it and get it moved out.

"We can't accept that, it's an embarrassment for the football club and for all of us involved.

"I knew when I came in here I had to turn round a ship that was heading in the wrong direction. It had three wins out of 30 in the Premiership. We have turned it round in areas but there's still a lot of work to do.

"Everyone has to question themselves, that's part of Hearts, and I'm the head coach so I have to question what I'm doing because that's not good enough."

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