Scottish Cup boost for Arbroath

Monday 2 July 2012

Arbroath captain Fraser Burnett believes the revamped national league set-up is doomed to failure if automatic promotion and relegation between divisions is retained, writes David Kelso.

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Burnett issued his verdict after the Lochlands men halted their form slide by demolishing Scottish Cup opponents SMRH, who are among the leading contenders to jump to the East zone top flight. The captain reckons the ease of Arbroath's triumph simply underlined the gulf in standard. His argument was, however, dilluted by the fact that Forfarshire were beaten by Stenhousemuir from the second tier of the West section.

In one of only three cup-ties to survive the latest downpours, Burnett's boys recovered from a shaky start to reach 235 before skittling the Edinburgh men for 67.He said: "We're delighted with the result; it was a huge confidence boost following our poor run in the league. But it also showed up the big difference in standard between the divisions."My view is that there should not be automatic promotion and relegation and at the very least there should be a play-off featuring the bottom side in the Premier section and the top team in the First Division."If the officials keep this system, I think it would be the same small clutch of clubs that would be jumping up and down every year. The gulf is massive."Thanks to their home turf victory, Stenhousemuir need just one more win to secure their place in the last eight. They were set a revised target of 114 from 25 overs and got home with five balls and six wickets to spare.Stoneywood-Dyce's hopes of reaching the quarter-finals received a severe jolt when they suffered a surprise defeat to Corstorphine at People's Park. The Edinburgh side managed to restrict the Aberdonians to just 105 in 39 overs, Willie Anderson fighting a lone battle for Stoneywood with 46, while Ruben Hattingh and Sulamain Malik gave the visitors the edge with four and three wickets respectively. Hattingh then showed equal prowess with the bat, posting an unbeaten 51 as Corstorphine cruised to a five-wicket success.

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Scottish Cup boost for Arbroath

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