East Kilbride were left gutted by a last-gasp penalty equaliser at Caledonian Braves, but Kilby boss Kevin Rutkiewicz says they can turn it into a ‘good point’ if they follow it up with a win over Cowdenbeath this weekend.
The Lowland League leaders were seconds away from a derby victory at Alliance Park on Saturday, having fought back from Jack McDowall’s opener for Braves to lead 2-1 thanks to a first half strike from Neil McLaughlin and a Cami Elliott penalty 10 minutes from time
However, Braves equalised from the penalty spot through Marc Kelly with the last kick of the game after Conor Morgan was judged to have pulled down ex-Kilby striker Ross McNeill inside the box.
Both sides also ended the game with 10 men as Braves’ Jamie Walker and EK’s BJ Coll both saw red in the closing stages.
After an action-packed afternoon in Motherwell, Rutkiewicz was philosophical despite watching victory escape his side so late on.
He said: “Points dropped or a point gained, I don’t know what side of the fence I’m on.
“Obviously the lateness of the goal stings but that is football. We’ve gone to Spartans earlier in the season and won so that is football.
“It’s another point on the board and it will become a good point if we can win on Saturday now.
“We just have to accept that we weren’t good enough to win on the day, whether the goal comes in the last minute or not.
“We just need to strive to be better. Overall we have certainly put to bed the defeat to Edinburgh Uni a few weeks ago.
“We’ve had a couple of good results away from home - Deveronvale in the cup and Dalbeattie last midweek - with a good win over Cumbernauld at home.
“Although not perfect, we’d have probably taken that after the Edinburgh game. We are four games unbeaten, on a wee run again, and hopefully we can win the next game.”
BJ Coll picked up two yellow cards inside seven minutes to give Braves a late lifeline, which they took when Morgan committed a foul inside the box.
But Rutkiewicz believes the officials got both calls right.
He added: “I’ve got absolutely no complaints with the red card decision.
“My complaints will lie with BJ and I won’t disclose them publicly.
“It’s a poor decision but you live and learn by moments like that and, hopefully, BJ will review that and learn from it.
“I’ve got no complaints with the penalty either. There was definitely grappling and, when I saw it live, I thought when you are doing that late on in a game you are making a referee make a decision.
“We’ve just got to be better next time.”
The result leaves EK four points clear of Rangers B and Broomhill at the top of the Lowland League after 13 games, although the Gers have played three games fewer and Broomhill are one behind the pace.
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