Maryhill...2 EK Thistle...2
Gary Hamilton was left fuming with the referee after East Kilbride Thistle blew a two-goal lead in the dying minutes at Maryhill.
The Jags were on course for their first win of the season thanks to strikes from Kevin Cloherty and David Bannerman, but they conceded in the 89th and 96th minute at Lochburn Park.
And Hamilton was left scratching his head after ref Tony Fullerton played double the amount of stoppage time.
The Jags boss said: “We asked the ref at 89 minutes how long was left and he said he’d be playing three minutes of injury time.
“Maryhill scored their equaliser in the 96th minute, so where he got the extra three minutes from I don’t know.
“In the 94th minute Ryan Barrett got the ball and I told him to run it into the corner because we thought the game had to be finished.
“Then Maryhill eventually get a free-kick in the last minute, our attempted clearance hits a Maryhill player on the back of the head and they score.
“It’s hard to take, but that’s just life sometimes.”
Last week Hamilton spoke of Thistle’s need to see games out after blowing a 3-1 lead against Lanark and this latest setback leaves the club three points adrift at the bottom of the table, with a game in hand.
But he insisted there was still loads of positives to take from the clash.
“We competed fantastically well for 89 minutes and when I look back at our previous games, we’ve only been doing that for 69 minutes so there’s progress there,” Hamilton said.
“Our day is coming – we just need a break.
“There was strong words in the dressing room again about seeing games out. To dominate for so long and not come away with the win is very disappointing.
“But the boys were fantastic up until then and we created chance after chance, more than we’ve managed in other games, which is a real positive.”
Thistle took the lead after 10 minutes when Clothery’s free-kick found the net and another fine set-piece was dispatched by Bannerman to put the Jags two goals to the good after 55 minutes.
Maryhill pulled one back in the 89th minute when a free-kick hit the crossbar and Ged Dobbs reacted quickest to bury the rebound.
As injury time marched on, Thistle looked to have seen the game out but another set-piece delivery wasn’t dealt with and Cammy Ralston struck to snatch a point.
Attentions now turn to a home clash with Wishaw on Saturday and Hamilton added: “We are really looking forward to the Wishaw game and the boys are not down beat.
“They know we’ve got something here. It’s all starting to come together for this team and the results will come – we just need that break.
“Once we get it I really believe we will go on a good run.
“The good thing is teams are taking points off each other all over the league at the moment.”
Kick-off on Saturday at the Showpark is 2pm.
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