GRAHAM Wilson had the foresight to book today off.
The self-employed plumber cleared his decks just in case he needed the recuperation time.
And having scored the only goal of the game to increase the pressure on a freefalling Hamilton Accies side, there was sufficient requirements for some quiet time this morning after Hamilton were added to the list of Cup scalps that the junior side have claimed.
“We went round about the pubs….it’s a good atmosphere here. Junior Scottish Cup celebrations and nights like that, it’s something else and you don’t get it anywhere else.”
How they revelled in it.
From the deep throw-in that brought forth the goal under a burning pink sky as the sun went down on the freezing Ayrshire countryside, there was always the suspicion that Accies would not muster a sufficient response with half an hour of regulation time to play.
If it made for a pretty picture in Auchinleck, the storm clouds over Hamilton are difficult to ignore.
Still, though, that was of no concern to the Junior side.
“Our wee park suits us when we play these teams,” said the goalscorer. They try to pass it about and it doesn’t work for them.
“We’re hard to beat here. I thought when we scored we had scored too early. There was still half an hour to go.
“But the boys at the back and in midfield did really well to keep the clean sheet.
“The second half we limited them to shots from outside the box.”
The draw for the next round of the Scottish Cup will take place this evening with Graham knowing exactly what he wants.
“We want either a lower league side or a big team,” he said. “You don’t want anything in between – either a Premiership team or a Clydebank or Darvel or someone at our level.
“Preferably at Beechwood and especially if it’s a big team – you don’t want to go to a big playing surface and get passed off the park.
“We always feel we have a chance at home. I wouldn’t go as far as to say against anybody when Rangers and Celtic are in the hat!
“But we always feel we have a chance.”
Accies’ hangover this morning owed more to the result adding another layer of pressure to a campaign that has been fraught so far.
And Shaun Want did not try to sugarcoat the magnitude of the defeat.
“I have a list of words to describe that but really it is embarrassing and it is not good enough,” said the defender.
“I have played football here for a long time and I knew what it would be like to come here. We all knew we were in for a tough day. The gaffer didn’t hide that and we were all prepared for it. We knew they would make it tough, we know it would be a hostile atmosphere and every single player in that dressing room needs to go and have a long hard look at themselves in the mirror.
“We need to rectify this. It has been going on for a while and it needs sorted ASAP because the mentality isn’t good enough. We shouldn’t be coming to places like this and getting beat. It is embarrassing.
“It wasn’t as if we came here and battered them and they got a lucky goal. We had hardly any chances and then they scored with that long throw-in. That is what junior teams work on and what they do and credit to them but from our point of view we need to take a good look at ourselves and make sure we make it better on Tuesday.
“I have been on the end of a few upsets but this is probably the lowest I have felt. It is a junior team and to come away know we are not in the next round is hard.
“It was like a Cup final for them. It is like us when we go and get a result against Celtic or Rangers and credit to them and to their fans because they deserved it.
“Our fans had every like to complain. We can only apologise to them.”
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