HADDINGTON Athletic and Tranent Juniors have made history after winning their first ever Scottish Cup ties on Saturday.

East Lothian was represented by four teams in the national competition for the first time, with Musselburgh Athletic and Preston Athletic also in the final preliminary round, although their ties were postponed – Preston played theirs on Wednesday and also made it through to the first round with a 3-2 victory over Hawick Royal Albert United, while Musselburgh Athletic are set to face Wick Academy in Caithness on Saturday.

Haddington caused the shock of the round in coming from behind to defeat BSC Glasgow in a thrilling cup tie which had five goals, three red cards and two penalties, while Tranent emerged victorious against Edinburgh University.

Joe Hamill, player/manager of Haddington, told Courier Sport: “It is the biggest cup shock of my career given where we are sitting, two tiers below them, and they are flying high in the Lowland League and with a good chance of getting into the play-offs for the SPFL.

“We were confident going into the game and we did not change anything. We could have gone, sat in and played 4-5-1 and maybe try to hit them on the break and hope but instead we went and played our normal game and whatever would come from it would come from it.

“It was a cup final for us. The only thing missing was the fans. If they had been there, it would have been bouncing.

“The game had absolutely everything, even in terms of the emotions – you were high, you were low, you were frustrated, you were happy.

“It was an old-fashioned cup tie.”

The Millfield men had to fight back after trailing at the interval thanks to Andy Geggan’s goal.

However, an own goal and strikes from Gabri Auriemma and Gordon Harris put the visitors on top.

There would be a nervy ending as BSC pulled a goal back and Haddington finished with nine men as Guy McGarry and Hamill were sent off.

The former Hearts man spent the last few minutes urging the referee to blow the final whistle and said the celebrations at the end would live long in the memory.

He said: “It was something else when you saw the committee’s faces. When you looked at them, you knew it was everything for them.”

A home tie against either Formartine United or Turriff United now awaits Haddington on Boxing Day.

Meanwhile, Tranent boss Calum Elliot described his side’s 2-1 victory over Edinburgh University as “very well deserved”.

The Belters sit top of the East of Scotland Football League Premier Division and have aspirations of joining their Scottish Cup opponents in the Scottish Lowland Football League next season.

Elliot said: “We dominated throughout. Obviously, it would have been better to have scored earlier but it was a convincing victory.

“Probably, the scoreline does not tell the full story but the boys did the club incredibly proud to win their first Scottish Cup game.”

Second-half strikes from Arran Ponton and Kyle Lander set the Foresters Park club on the road to victory before their hosts ensured a nervy ending by pulling one back.

Elliot praised his team for keeping their composure over the 90 minutes. The former Tynecastle boss, who took charge of Tranent just before the season kicked off, said: “I would imagine there are a lot of people that have celebrated the victory because they know how much it means to Tranent.

“It has been a long time coming.

“People would have loved to have been there but were not there.

“The committee deserve enormous credit for putting themselves into that position and it is a good club to be at.”

The draw for the first round of the Scottish Cup saw Tranent secure a home draw against former SPFL club East Stirlingshire.

However, Elliot stressed the focus was on this weekend’s league clash with Blackburn United.

He said: “The Scottish Cup is not something I have thought much about because my full focus has been on Blackburn.

“I cannot be distracted – the most important thing is Saturday.”