Livingston 1 Montrose 0

Last updated : 11 January 2004 By Dov
Fernandez Montrose.jpg
Fenandez gets on the scoresheet

The tie against Montrose should have been a walkover, but the third division strugglers should have been shafted 4 or 5 nil, but it took a spectacular strike from David Fernandez to open the scoring, and the supporters thought that the flood gates would open, but they were disappointed when Livi struggled to make an impact. Montrose could have even sneaked a replay out of this game, they had a couple of chances, but the Lions held on, and now face Spartans in the next round away from home.

Livingston manager Davie Hay defended his side's performance following their narrow 1-0 victory over Montrose.

The home fans barracked their team throughout the Tennent's Scottish Cup match and booed them off the pitch at the end.

But Hay insisted victory was "the be all and end all'' in cup ties and said he was delighted his side had made it into the fourth round.

He also paid tribute to Montrose, whose last outing against Scottish Premierleague opposition saw them humbled 9-0 by Hibs.

He said: "All credit should go to Montrose. I think after their last cup escapade they came to make things tighter and they achieved that.

"The first half was ok from us but in the second half we never played as we can do.

"But the thing you need to achieve in cup ties is to get into the next round and we managed that. I'm just pleased there wasn't a shock here today.''

Hay also paid tribute to goal hero David Fernandez, who hit the net for the first time since his return to Livingston on loan from Celtic.

He said: "The most pleasing thing was David scored a wonder goal. That's him off the mark and we're looking for a few more now.''

Montrose boss Henry Hall praised his team's performance.

He said: "The idea was to hit them on the break, but because the wind was so strong that didn't really work.

"In the second half we managed to push up the park a bit more and we've got to be happy with that.

"We created one or two chances but we just didn't get the break in the box.

"Our goalkeeper Jimmy Butter only had two shots to save and the other shot hit the back of the net, which says a lot about our defending.''

Hall also said the players were determined there wouldn't be a repeat of the Hibs result in the CIS Cup.

He said: "The Hibs game was a bad performance and the players who played that night had something to prove. They showed today that they are good players.

"They worked hard for each other and I'm delighted with the performance.

"It was a good day out for the fans as well. Some of them were at Easter Road and I'm sure they enjoyed today a lot more.

"The club as a whole is on the up and this shows we are a decent team who can compete with better opposition.''