BY ALAN TEMPLE – @CCP_Sport
Linlithgow Rose captain Mark Tyrrell admits he has been the butt of his teammates jokes after missing out on their historic win over Forfar due to working night shift at a ‘sausage factory’.
However, the prospect of missing out on the mouth-watering fifth round tie against Ross County is no laughing matter as he desperately attempts to bank enough overtime to make the journey north.
Tyrrell, a stalwart of nine years at Prestonfield, was unable to feature at Station Park on Tuesday due to work commitments as the Rosey Posey become the first ever Junior side to reach the last 16.
However, the 32-year-old still managed to garner plenty of attention, when a tweet explaining the reason for his absence took the internet by storm.
Although he sees the funny side of the tale, he is determined to make sure his name is prominent on the team-sheet, rather than the ’trending topics’, when Rose face County.
“At the moment I won’t be able to play against Ross County either,” he revealed. “I’ve basically got two weeks to get as much overtime as possible in. When I do that, I’ll take the game as a holiday.
“They offer overtime a lot, so fingers crossed I get it. I’ll be trying to work all the hours under the sun to make up the time to play in this match.
“I was gutted to miss the game on Tuesday, but there was nothing that could be done about it and it was great that we got the win.
“I was available for the first Forfar game, I had banked overtime so I could play – and then it was abandoned because of the floodlights. It was just far too short notice for the rearranged game.
“It’s a company in Cumbernauld which produces collagen casings for food manufacturers; basically the sausage skins. So we don’t deal with any meat or anything like that.
“When people were tweeting about me working in a sausage factory a few of they boys were shouting: ‘Oi, what’s this about? I don’t work in a sausage factory!’”
Having used up his final 20-minute break at 9 p.m., Tyrrell was reliant on his workmates to keep him up to date with events at Station Park as a fraught tie went the distance.
Frustrating
And he described how a sleepy factory in Cumbernaud erupted when Kevin Kelbie knocked in the winning goal after 115 minutes.
He continued: “I was trying to follow it on my phone when I could. When the other lads were on a break they would run in and keep me updated. It was massively nerve-wrecking and frustrating to keep tabs on the game like that.
“When Kevin [Kelbie] knocked in the winner, a boy called Johnny ran through and told me. We were all cheering and celebrating, so that was a cracking moment.”
Tyrrell finished his nightshift at 7 a.m. and was quickly in touch with the Rose heroes.
He added: “I’ve spoken to the boys and, as expected, they are on cloud nine. I let them know how pleased I was for them. It was an incredible effort.
“It didn’t take long for the banter to fly – mainly them slagging me about sausages, right enough! They’ve been giving me it tight, but while they are pulling out results like that they can slag me all they want.
“It was all about the boys, they were the ones who did the business, but I’m immensely proud to be the club captain here. It’s surreal to be this far into the competition. People say ‘the last 16 of the Scottish Cup’ and it sounds ridiculous. I need to pinch myself.”
