St Peter’s boss Paul McTaggart paid tribute to talented teenager Jay Lunnie for proving his mettle after suffering a “disgusting” challenge.
The Paisley club battled their way to all three points against a tough-tackling Harthill side, with the hosts going down to ten men after Lunnie was clattered late on.
McTaggart said Lunnie was fortunate to escape a broken leg and revealed he was impressed with the way the 19-year-old midfielder dealt with the challenge, and the rest of the rough treatment thrown his way continuously throughout the match.
McTaggart explained: “We’d played Harthill the week before and Jay had absolutely torn them up.
“They were hammering him all game and had brought in a new boy to pretty much stick the boot on him and try to get a reaction.
“We’d warned Jay this could well happen and I was proud of how well he dealt with the treatment he got.
“He was very lucky to get away without a broken leg after a disgusting challenge.
“It was so high above the knee and remarkably the boy only got a yellow for it. It was a stonewall red.
“The boy did get sent off by the end of the match and he should have been off already because it was a proper leg-breaker.
“Jay dealt with it brilliantly though, even though he had a huge gash on his leg he still played on to full-time. He’s got a very strong character and he was determined to play on.
“We told him that he has to take the treatment as a compliment. They were so scared of him they had to resort to that kind of tactic.”
St Peter’s overcame the tough physical challenge to beat Harthill for the second time in the space of two weeks.
Having beaten the West Lothian outfit at home previously, the Glenburn-based side were looking to do the double away at Gibbshill Park.
The Paisley side knew the game would be much more physical on the tight, grass park.
They enjoyed the perfect start when Scott Lewis raced onto a through ball and buried a strike in the keeper’s far corner to open the scoring.
The hosts equalised shortly after, before loanee Mark Storey bulleted home a header to restore the visitors lead.
Glenburn levelled once again in the second half from a free header, but St Peter’s picked up all three points thanks to Lewis’ fine second after he slotted through the Harthill keeper’s legs.
McTaggart was pleased with the result and the manner in which his side adapted to the more physical battle that faced them this time around.
He said: “I was delighted to come away with all three points, especially given the context of everything we faced.
“The grass was cutting up even during the warm-up, so we knew it wasn’t going to be easy to keep the ball down. We also knew Harthill would be much more physical on their own park compared to the Astro at Renfrew.
“We knew it would be competitive and it was a feisty game.
“They had a man sent off and in the end it was a hard-fought victory.”
St Peter’s have now won three games on the bounce in Division 4 and will be looking to maintain that run against Paisley rivals Glenvale this weekend.
St Peter’s have won both of their previous meetings this season and McTaggart is hopeful of making it three on Saturday at New Western Park.
He said: “The boys are buzzing with how it’s been going but Glenvale are on a high just now too.
“They’ve beaten both the teams at the top of the table back-to-back so they’ll be full of confidence.
“We know it’s going to be a very tricky match.
“We’ve beaten them twice already this season and I’m sure their boss John Kelly will have them right up for it.
“It should be a brilliant match.”
