Dynamo secured a place in the last 64 of the Scottish Cup after a dramatic late fightback.
Dynamo started with a slight change to their recent set-up with Steven Geary moving out to left-wing due to the unavailability of Shaun Davidson. Keco took Geary's place in the middle of the park. Dynamo started well and totally dominated possession. Edinburgh Caledonian seemed happy to leave 1 man up top and defend deep and with numbers. Dynamo were creating lots of half chances with Andy McGowan hitting some delightful long crosses into the box and his fellow full-back Robbie Graham causing lots of problems on the right. Dynamo were surely on the verge of scoring when they lost a poor goal. Captain Eamonn Reynolds lost the ball on half way and a quick ball in behind the Dynamo defence released the opposition centre-forward. He beat Nathan Moncrieff to the ball before slotting the ball home into the corner of the net. Dynamo changed to a 4-3-3 as they chased an equaliser but incredibly they fell further behind. Moncrieff mis-judged the ball and allowed the ball to bounce over his head. The Caledonian centre-forward raced away before tucking home an identical goal to his 1st.
Dynamo raced up the park but the keeper made an amazing double save, 1st denying Alan Parker before keeping out a fierce shot from Robbie Graham.
Half-time 0-2.
Dynamo started the 2nd half like a train. A beautiful move down the right released Sean McCormack but he shot wide. Like the 1st half Dynamo dominated but found it hard to break down the stubborn Caledonian defence. Alan Parker fired a long shot just wide and the keeper dealt well with a number of crosses.
Eventually Dynamo made the break through. A corner from the left reached David Hunter at the edge of the box, he crossed for Robbie Graham to fire an unstoppable volley into the corner of the net.
Dynamo kept pushing but couldn't get back on level terms. Corner after corner was dealt with by Caledonian and as the game edged towards 90 minutes a Martyn Murray corner reached player/manager Hunter at the back post, he cut the ball back to the penalty spot but Keco fired over. It looked like Dynamo would be beaten.
As we entered the 3rd minute of injury time Caledonian won a throw deep in Dynamo territory. Instead of going for the corner the centre-forward tried to beat Dav McAndrew but an excellent tackle allowed Dynamo one last shot. The long kick from Cello broke to 2 opposition players but Hunter managed to get the ball back to McGowan despite lying on the ground. McGowan smashed the ball long into the box and it fell to Parker. Dynamo held their breath as Parker's shot was well saved by the keeper but Parked tucked the rebound into the corner to level with the last kick of the ball. A team pile-on followed.
PENALTIES
Caledonian went 1st half and scored. Hunter went left and levelled before it went 2-1. Murray went left and levelled before Cello saved well with his legs. McGowan went left and put Dynamo ahead. Chello nearly saved again but it went 3-3. Up stepped Lee Niven and he hit possibly the worst penalty of all time but as the Caledonian players started cheering their keeper managed to dive over the ball. Caledonian made it 4-4 and it was up to Dynamo talisman Sean McCormack. The number 22 confidentally smashed the penalty towards the top corner. The ball hit the underside of the crossbar and bounced down over the line before lodging itself it the net behind the crossbar.
It was all over and a game that will go down in Dynamo history. Their 1st penalty win and the longest run in the Scottish. What a game.
