A fiercely-contested encounter which produced two red and eight yellow cards, the game was heading for extra time when Spartans' Robbie Manson hit a high ball forward. The Pollok central defenders Derek Wingate and Stevie Aitchison ran into each othe
r and it gave Walker the time and space to hit a low shot past the exposed Kris Robertson.
"Pollok's two central defenders collided and fortunately the ball fell nicely for me," beamed Walker. "I just kept my head and focused on striking through the ball cleanly and that's exactly what happened. The ball went into the net at the far post and it was a massive goal for Spartans. Pollok were a big scalp for us."
Pollok, winners of the Stagecoach Super Premier League in three of the last four years, were the pre-match favourites, although Spartans' Scottish Cup home record is phenomenal.
Spartans kicked off down the City Park slope – which, incidentally, might have witnessed its last ever Scottish Cup tie.
Walker had two early efforts wide of the target while Donal Henretty lifted a Walker cross over the bar. Omar Kader set up Manson but his header bounced wide of the post. A Manson cross was only inches from the in-rushing Henretty as Spartans tried to take the lead.
Walker had an early chance in the second half when he surged from the halfway line and rounded keeper Robertson but his netbound shot was cleared off the line. The same player then beat three Pollok defenders before Robertson tipped his left foot shot over the crossbar.
Bryan Dingwall missed an opportunity for Pollok then the Glasgow side were incensed when Spartans substitute Daryl Devlin handled the ball inside the penalty box but referee Greg Aitken signalled that it was not intentional.
Five minutes were left when Pollok's defensive mix-up allowed Walker to net the decisive goal although Spartans celebrations were slightly dampened soon afterwards when Alex King received his second yellow and subsequent red card.
Walker added: "Overall, I thought the game was similar to the first one in Glasgow when Pollok had a lot of possession. We retained the ball much better in the second half and, over the piece, deserved to win."
Sam Lynch, Spartans joint manager, said:
"Pollok may have a lot of big-name players but for all of that our goalkeeper did not have many saves to make. One goal was always going to decide it."
Mike Lawson, the other half of the management team, said: "I told the players at half time that Pollok would think they had already won the tie as they were about to kick down the hill with the wind behind them. I said to my boys to go out and prove them wrong and with 20 minutes to go Pollok got nervous and it showed. After we scored we held out comfortably."
Jim Sinnet, the Pollok boss who was in charge of Linlithgow when they beat Spartans last season, said: "The goal summed up our performances over the past two games. Two of our players collided to let Spartans score.
"We did not do enough over the 180 minutes with neither keeper having had a lot of saves.
"The conditions were not great but we have no excuses so good luck to Spartans in the next round."
Spartans will now travel to meet Annan Athletic who pipped the Edinburgh team for a place in the SFL at the beginning of the season. Already it promises to be a mouthwatering game.
Spartans: Flockhart, Gerrard, Preston (Devlin 67), Archibald, Fowlie, O'Donnell, King, Kader, Walker, Manson, Henretty. Subs: Malin, Hoskins, Livingstone, Smart.
Pollok: Robertson, Aitchison, Cruickshank, Carruth, Wingate (Turnbull 85), McClay, Hardie, Miller, Downs, Dingwall, Essler. Subs: Newall, McKay, Cuddihy, MacKillop.
IN the other replay involving East of Scotland sides, Selkirk beat Coldstream 4-2 on penalties after the game ended 2-2 after extra time.The full article contains 694 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
