WHITECRAIGS put their league blip to the side on Saturday to blow away their supposedly superior opposition.

Greenock Wanderers were the visitors to a rain-lashed West Lodge and it was a much-changed Whitecraigs side that marched into the next round of the Scottish Cup.

But the result was not a complete surprise as the two sides will almost certainly be league rivals next campaign, via a Whitecraigs promotion and a Greenock relegation.

As the wind howled around the pitch both teams were struggling to cope with the testing conditions with sloppy handling a feature.

And as the players hands and feet slowly turned to ice in plummeting temperatures it was clear that the kicking boots had been left in the changing rooms too.

After some ill discipline from the visitors Percival had two penalty chances within minutes of each other but pushed both wide.

With the half time interval in sight Whitecraigs stepped up their pressure and it finally paid off after some gritty forward play.

The front five battered at the line with five controlled phases before Hamish Hunter bundled over to open the scoring.

When the second period got underway Whitecraigs looked hungry and Moffat latched on to a fumbled pass in the midfield to intercept and race over the line.

Just as it looked as though ‘Craigs were in the ascendancy with Stevenson keeping the opposition pinned back with precise kicking they went into self-destruct mode.

A misplaced pass allowed Greenock to break away but the determination of the home team shone through the rain as Mahindru and McKelvie raced back to thwart the danger.

So it was down to McCormick to round off the tie when he forced his way over from a lineout move near to the visitors’ line, to close the scoring at 15-0.

Team: McCormick, Haswell, Marsden, Henderson, Walker, Adams, K. Hunter, H. Hunter, Whiteford, Stevenson, Kemp, Percival, Moffat, Johnston, Mahindru. Subs – Laidaw, F. Hunter, Campbell, McKelvie.