Published Saturday, 13 February 2010
Ballyclare Comrades 1 - 2 Glentoran
There were just 15 seconds of normal time remaining when second half sub Matty Burrows fell to the ground after a challenge by home defender Andy Long.
Hamilton kept his nerve to send Ballyclare keeper Allen Huxley the wrong way from the spot.
The two managers had differing views about the legitimacy of the referee's decision to award the penalty.
"From where I was standing there was no contact between the players and I am absolutely gutted," said Comrades boss Gordon Chambers.
"I actually heard one of the Glentoran fans shouting to me after the game that we'd been robbed and that just about summed it up."
"But I am very proud of my players who fought so hard against such a big team as Glentoran."
Chambers was also annoyed by Stuart Galbraith's sending off in the 23rd minute which was levelled out by the second half dismissal of Glens defender Kyle Neill, who was given a straight red card for a foul.
"Stuart threw the ball at one of their players and was handed a straight red but a Glentoran player did exactly the same earlier and didn't even get a yellow," he added.
Oval manager Alan McDonald had a contrasting opinion on the award of the spot kick.
"As far as I was concerned their player made contact with ours so it was a penalty," he claimed.
"The bottom line is that we are through to the next round and that's the most important thing.
"We could and should have won the game earlier than when we did though and I lost count of the number of times we hit the woodwork."
Ballyclare got off to a dream start when lone striker Mark McClelland latched onto a long clearance and drove the ball high into the net with a first time shot.
After Hamilton had missed from close range and Keith Gillespie saw his shot hit the post, Colin Nixon headed in the equalizer from Neill's corner two minutes from half time.
Five minutes after the restart Andy Waterworth's close-range header hit the post as the visitors laid siege on the Ballyclare goal.
It became 10 a side in the 54th minute when Neill was sent off for a clumsy foul on Stuart McCullough but the Glens continued to dominate.
However, from a rare breakaway, Scott Irvine was unfortunate to see his shot skim off the crossbar much to the relief of Glentoran keeper Elliot Morris.
Daryl Fordyce came close to making it 2-1 when his low shot was well saved by the home keeper on 84 minutes.
Then came that last gasp winner from Hamilton which earned Glentoran a date with Big Two rivals Linfield in the quarter-finals.