Johnstone Burgh manager Jamie McKim refused to be too hard on his players after they surrendered a 2-0 lead to leave Hannah Park empty-handed.
The Keanie Park side raced into a two-goal lead against league leaders Shotts thanks to early strikes from teenager Jay Keenan.
In fairly treacherous conditions, the current Conference A table-toppers battled back to level at the break before an own goal put paid to Burgh’s hopes of returning to Johnstone with a point or three.
McKim was pleased with his player’s application against a side who have lost just twice this season, insisting they didn’t deserve to go home with nothing.
McKim told Express Sport: “I thought we were excellent on Saturday, we just came up against a very good, experienced side.
“We blew them away in the first 20 minutes and were deservedly two ahead.
“The weather turned halfway through the first half and then it became very difficult to control the game.
“There were gale force winds heading into us and it became very difficult to manage.
“It then died down and we lost the advantage we would have got from it in the second half, but I’m not using that as an excuse.
“An own goal in the second half killed us and at the end of the day they’ve got a very good set up and a very experienced side. That’s what money gets you.
“But I think there’s hardly anything between the two sides and this loss certainly won’t derail us.
“We gave them a scare and I was gutted for the players because they didn’t deserve to lose that game after all they’d put into it.”
McKim felt Shotts used all their experience to get over the line in the end, including a spot of time-wasting late on.
He hopes his young squad will learn from that as they continue to develop as players.
McKim said: “While I wasn’t too hard on the players after the game, what I did tell them was that they have to learn from the experience.
“At the end of the day they knew how to manage the game better.
“At two-nil up, we certainly could have managed the situation better.
“They were taking an age with restarts in the secon d half as we were chasing an equaliser.
“They also had a guy sent off for delaying restarts which, at the end of the day, helped get them over the finish line.
“What is certain is they didn’t have it easy against us.
“Considering the amount of young boys in the side, like Keenan and Jojo Gillespie, we were terrrific.
“These youngsters don’t know how well they’re doing in games like this.
“Once they add that experience into their game as well they’ll be even better.”
