Battling Vics lost out to a stoppage time penalty after blowing a two-goal lead against Championship title chasers Glens.
Brian McLuckie’s relegation fighters were just seconds away from claiming a precious point when Ewan Farrell caught Jordan Leydon on the edge of the box for the clearest of spot kicks.
Leydon dusted himself down to send Vics keeper Martin McDonald the wrong way from 12 yards and complete a dramatic fightback from 2-0 down.
It was a gut-wrenching blow for the home side who had got off to a dream start when Ross McKinlay forced home Ryan Morrow’s cross from the left with barely 30 seconds on the clock.
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Glens should have equalised a minute later when Jay Wilson found himself with just McDonald to beat, but the keeper made a fine block.
Callum McRobbie was next to threaten for the visitors, his snap shot from the right edge of the penalty area whistling across the face of goal and inches past the far post with McDonald flat-footed.
McKinlay then went close for Vics when he brought down a hopeful punt forward on the edge of the Glens box, turned and flashed a shot narrowly over the crossbar.
The striker had better luck in 22 minutes when he pounced to put Vics 2-0 in front –though he could hardly miss.
Glens defender Rhys Donaldson slipped 20 yards from goal allowing McKenzie to intercept, dart to the byline and cut the ball back for McKinlay who had time to take a touch before rolling the ball home from three yards.
The visitors quickly reduced the deficit, McRobbie beating the offside trap in 25 minutes before gliding past the onrushing McDonald and skilfully evading Blair Gilmour’s desperate goal-line lunge to score from close range.
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There was simply no let up in the action and McKinlay should have restored Vics two-goal cushion inside two minutes of the retart when another bad mistake from Donaldson sent him racing clear, but he could only casually shoot straight at goalkeeper Garry Whyte.
At the other end, McDonald made an excellent double save to thwart Harry Mitchell to ensure Vics led 2-1 at the interval.
Rutherglen continued to find Vics hard to break down at the start of the second half but they were gifted an equaliser in 57 minutes.
Vics made a real hash of clearing their lines and breaking up a Glens attack, and with several players, hopelessly out of position, Liam Gormley was on hand to tap home a cross from the right from close range.
It was largely one-way traffic after that with Vics defending like lions to avoid conceding a third.
They almost regained the lead against the run of play in 73 minutes however, McKenzie finishing a sweeping counter attack with a header that the diving Whyte brilliantly turned wide for a corner.
With both teams tiring in the closing stages a draw looked the most likely result, but disaster struck for the home side in 93 minutes when Farrell got the wrong side of Leydon, catching him with a lazy leg for a clear penalty. Within seconds of Leydon scoring from the spot, the whistle sounded and the respective reactions from both sets of players told their own story.
