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Successfully defending champions of the Scottish Cup, Edinburgh "Hearts" team, coached by Valdas Ivanauskas, started the third round match away by crushing the third league club "Stranraer" 4-0, with Lithuanian Andrius Velicka scoring three goals.
Last season's cup winners faced an easy first barrier - the third league club "Stranraer". In the starting lineup of "Hearts," forward Andrius Velicka returned after an injury, Nerijus Barasa entered the field instead of the reserve Saulius Mikoliunas, and the other Lithuanians were not included in the team.
"Hearts" took the initiative from the beginning of the match and in the 17th minute, after a pass from Bruno Aguiar, A. Velicka, running one on one in his usual style, slipped the ball past the goalkeeper and put the visitors ahead. Later the home team had chances to score, but three minutes before the break, A. Velicka scored his second goal with a shot after another pass from midfielder Michal Pospisil.
After the break, "Stranraer" did not give up and tried to attack, but could not overcome goalkeeper Craig Gordon. "Hearts" secured victory with the third goal in the 70th minute, scored by substitute R. Bednar - the Czech played a one-two with A. Velicka and shot powerfully past the opponent's goalkeeper.
At the end of the match, S. Mikoliunas hit the crossbar with a long-range shot, but it was not over yet, as in extra time A. Velicka scored again, completing his hat-trick and increasing the number of goals scored in the "Hearts" ranks to ten.
The country's champions Glasgow "Celtic" easily advanced to the next stage, defeating "Dumbarton" 4-0 at home from the fourth league in terms of strength. Two goals were scored by Polish striker Maciej Zurawski, and one each by Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink and Derek Riordan.
Teams from the highest league "Inverness," "Falkirk," and "Motherwell" also progressed, while "Kilmarnock" unexpectedly lost 1-3 away to the third league leaders "Morton" and were eliminated. The remaining third round matches, where teams from the "Premier" league will face each other, will be played on January 7 and 10.
