STRIKER Darren Cummings was ecstatic after netting the winner as Sauchie progressed to the last 16 of the Scottish Cup at the expense of Bellshill Athletic.

The hitman climbed off the bench to make the difference as his second-half strike sent the Wee County side through.

And the striker was adamant he had in fact netted a brace, claiming he had got the final touch to his side's opener, which was credited to captain Brian Morgan.

Cummings told Advertiser Sport: "It seems like I only score in the big games! It was good to get on the scoresheet.

"I'm claiming the other goal as well because Morgy has sliced it and it's gone in off my foot! We were having a chuckle about it afterwards but it's definitely my goal."

He added: "I had to come on a bit earlier than I was expecting because Craig Comrie picked up an injury. The gaffer knew I might not have the fitness to run about for 70 minutes, but said to me 'just go on and score the winner' and I managed to do that so he was delighted.

"It's obviously brilliant to stay in the cup. You need to keep your Scottish Cup run going as long as possible because it gives your whole season a lift.

"It gives you a lot of confidence to take into the rest of the league campaign."

Cummings admitted that Sauchie were drawn into a battle with their opponents, partly thanks to the terrible conditions which had threatened to postpone the tie for a second time.

He said: "The conditions were horrendous. It was hard enough to walk on the pitch, never mind play football.

"It was a horrible surface and we had to go into a Portakabin to get changed! But that's what the Scottish Cup is about. You have got to go to these places, be professional and try to play football.

"You have got to put it our your mind and grind out a result. It's not going to be pretty but sometimes you have just got to win the battle and we did that.

"You are not going to get any easy games. You need to go and earn it.

"We started off quite sloppy but we got a wee kick up the backside at half time. In the second half we were a lot better and got the result."

With their progress secure, Sauchie can now focus on the next leg of their cup run, and Cummings insisted they will fear no-one ahead of this week's draw.

He added: "You want to stay away from the biggest teams to give yourself the best chance of getting through to the latter stages but we can battle with anyone on our day.

"We won't fear anybody. We will just see who the draw gives us then go out and do our best on the day."