Breadalbane faced a potential banana skin in the Scottish Amateur Cup as they travelled to Third Division Meigle with a side shorn of half a dozen regular squad members. Manager Duncan Robertson’s re-jigged side showed the strength in depth he has at his disposal, however, with a relatively comfortable victory to take them into the next round.

The blues got off to the best possible start when, inside the first minute, David da Silva marked his return from injury in emphatic fashion to finish off a crisp passing move. Frustratingly, though, this wasn’t to prove a taste of things to come as Breadalbane failed to add to the score for the rest of the half. Chances came and went for MacDougall, Klatschak and Price, but a mixture of erratic finishing and sharp goalkeeping kept the scoreline a little too close for comfort. Despite Breadalbane’s territorial advantage, Meigle were never out of the game and proved a threat from set-pieces in particular.

However, the frustration was eased almost on the stroke of half-time when Gavin Price kept his head in the midst of a goalmouth melee to slide an effort home from 10 yards.

The second half began in much the same vein, with the First Division side seeking to extinguish any hopes the home team may have had of causing an upset. Another tidy move saw makeshift midfielder Michael MacDougall do well to retrieve a ball from the bye-line and cut it back into the path of Gav Price. The big striker’s half-hit strike was parried by the goalkeeper, but only as far as Chucky Carr, who calmly poached another goal to add to his already impressive tally for the season.

That third goal seemed to knock some of the fight out of the home side and Breadalbane played out the rest of the game with relative ease. Two goals in quick succession for Gavin Price marked the striker’s first hat-trick of the season and gave the scoreline a lop-sided look that perhaps belied a slightly disjointed overall performance.

Manager Robertson, however, found plenty to be pleased with post-match. A new-look, and ageing, back-line kept a satisfying clean sheet and special mention was made of the contributions of Michael MacDougall in midfield and Scott McBride, who had fought off a mystery viral infection to take his place in the starting eleven.

Breadalbane:
Menzies, Cromb, C Price, I Robertson, McAdam, MacDougall, McBride (D Robertson), Klatschak, Carr (Marco), G Price, da Silva