Rose man Tyrell was Keane to impress with celebration

Mar 4 2010 by Eric MacKinnon, West Lothian Courier

Rose man Tyrell was Keane to impress with celebration

MARK TYRELL was Keane to impress with his goal celebration after curling home a stunning 20-yard freekick during his side’s Scottish Cup clash.

But the Linlithgow Rose defender joked he didn’t quite pull off the cartwheel and forward roll celebration made famous by Celtic and Ireland superstar Robbie Keane.

There was nothing wrong with the execution of his freekick though as he curled a superb effort over the Whittlets wall and into the top corner just after half-time but it wasn’t enough for the West Lothian club to earn a quarter-final spot as they were pegged back by a 70th minute spot-kick and the two sides will meet again this Saturday.

Hoops fan Tyrell was thrilled to see his fourth goal of the season nestle in the back of the net and he revealed he plotted his Keane tribute celebration on the bus down to the match.

“Michael McDermott and myself were having a bit of a laugh on the bus on the way down to the game and we agreed if either of us scored we’d do the Robbie Keane celebration,” explained Tyrell.

“I did my best at it and I got the roll fine but I struggled a bit with the cartwheel and by the time I was trying to get up everyone was on top of me.”

The Rose utility man reckoned 1-1 wasn’t a bad result considering they were forced to play for more than an hour with ten men when John Adam saw red for a tackle on Steven Kerr.

Tyrell said: “We agreed at half-time that a replay wouldn’t be the worst result and we all believe we can finish the job on Saturday when we’ll be at home and playing on a bigger park.

“The Scottish Cup has been a good competition for us and I was part of the side who won it in 2007. It is the biggest tournament in junior football and with it also comes a place in the senior Scottish Cup as well now.”

Dave Baikie bemoaned the two big decisions made by the ref which cost his side a man and a penalty.

He said: “I think it is a good result considering everything which went on in the match. The game was 0-0 when we went down to ten men and when that happens you are always up against it and a bit wary of the outcome.

“We got the goal ourselves after the break which I think gave us the mentality to protect what we had. I wasn’t as close as the referee was but I spoke to the player involved and the players who were roundabout the incident and they all felt it was very harsh.

“The penalty decision was also harsh for me as Roddy McLennan simply fresh-aired a clearance and their player ran across him and went down.

“None of their players even appealed for it so from that point of view we were really disappointed with the two big decisions.

“We hadn’t seen Whittlets play but now we’ve had the chance to have a good look at them first-hand so I think that will help my players for Saturday.”

Linlithgow: Pinkowski, Tyrell, Virgili, Ward, Donnelly, McMenamin, Livingstone (Smith), Adam, Coyne (McArthur), Herd (Manson), McLennan. Subs: Bradley, Flannery, McArthur, McPherson