Forfar Athletic secured their place in the fourth round of the Scottish Cup after seeing off Queen’s Park in their replay tie at windswept Station Park on Saturday.
Non-league opposition in the shape of Wick Academy or Linlithgow Rose now await the Loons.
Neither potential opponents will be easy for Forfar, who found it hard going at times against the League Two amateurs in horrendous conditions at Station Park.
But manager Dick Campbell admitted all that mattered was Forfar booking their place in the next round.
“I am absolutely delighted that we have had a wee rub of the green today,” he said.
“We had seven players unavailable for selection, the conditions were absolutely horrendous and Michael Travis hadn’t played for eight weeks but went on there and gave his absolute everything.
“The object of the exercise was to get through the cup tie. I am absolutely delighted for everyone at Forfar.
“It was never, ever going to be a classic. I thought we defended resolutely in the first half and I thought our goals were great.
“It was great to see Chris Templeman scoring because he was complaining bitterly at half-time about a calf injury and we thought very hard about taking him off then. I also thought Danny Denholm was outstanding today.
“We used the young boys today too. We put Craig Smith and Michael Kennedy on and we started with Kerr Hay so all credit to the under-20s team and Barry Sellars and his staff.
“We will have all our loan players back for Tuesday night against Peterhead and we might have one or two others. I also think most of the young boys will feature at some point.
“We have limped into the next round a bit but we are there now and that’s the main thing.”
The wind made a mockery of much of the first half although Forfar, playing into the gale, did manage a shot on target after 10 minutes, keeper William Muir doing well to save Denholm’s effort.
Chris Duggan should have opened the scoring for the visitors when he got clear in the Loons box but he dragged his shot wide of the post.
Forfar had the ball in the net just after the half-hour mark but Michael Travis had strayed offside before heading home.
However, right on half-time, Travis did put Forfar ahead with a near identical goal, bulleting a header past the keeper after being set up by Denholm.
Queen’s Park pressed the Loons hard throughout and they equalised in the 52nd minute, Jamie McKernon finding the net after his shot took a big deflection off the unfortunate Travis.
The home side were back in front in the 76th minute. Denholm put in another great run into the box and sent a perfect low cross over for Templeman to tap in at the back post.
That proved to be the decisive strike, although the Spiders pressed hard in the closing stages and made Forfar fans sweat in the closing stages, with one effort going just past the post.