CONFIDENT captain Ben Carson hopes Irvine Meadow's dramatic penalty shootout victory in the Scottish Junior Cup will help inspire a good run of form.

And he warns that opposition defences could be in for a torrid time once they start cashing in on their chances.

Meadow on Saturday edged out Maryhill 3-2 on penalties after the replay had ended 0-0 at Meadow Park following a goalless draw at Lochburn Park eight days earlier.

It was their first victory since August 28 and Carson hopes it gives the squad a lift.

He said: "It was great just to get through the tie. In the first half up there we created so many chances and it was the same on Saturday, we just could not find the target. Penalties can be a bit of a lottery but Craig Gordon made a couple of good saves. All we want is a winnable home tie in the second round."

Carson is now relishing Saturday's trip to Somervell Park to face third-placed Cambuslang Rangers, who suffered a surprise 4-0 loss at Darvel on Saturday.

He said: "The cup win should give us confidence and hopefully our form will pick up. We are playing well and the striker James Marks is a good addition to the squad. If we start taking our chances hopefully someone will get a doing. It will be a tough game at Cambuslang but we are looking to win it."

Manager Ross Wilson said: "We had 26 chances but didn't take them on Saturday. We were disappointed not to do it in the first game. Craig Gordon did well in the shootout. The stats speak for themselves. In the second half Maryhill had only two breakaways. We dominated and had plenty of shots on goal but just cannot seem to score."

Looking ahead to the weekend, Wilson commented: "It will be a difficult game as Cambuslang took a bit of a doing on Saturday and there's going to be a reaction from them but there will be a reaction from us as we've have not won in normal time in five games.

"We go into it with confidence as we have not lost a goal in three games.

"Cambuslang have good strikers, who will want to change that. You want to go and win every game but the main aim is to make sure we don't get beaten. We have a good bunch of boys in the squad and are creating chances. We just need one to go in and as soon as it does we will go on from there."

* The draw for the second round of the Scottish Junior Cup will be held in the Bain Suite, Hampden Park today (Wednesday), at 2pm.