Irvine Meadow came close to blowing a 3-0 lead as they made heavy weather of beating Hurlford on Saturday – but boss George Grierson insists winning was all that mattered.
Terrific goals from Louis Kerr, Callum Graham and Connor Boyd had the hosts seemingly cruising towards victory in the West of Scotland League Premier Division clash with less than an hour played at Meadow Park.
But Ford hit back through Paul McKenzie and Michael Mullen and only a fine double save from goalkeeper Marc Waters prevented the visitors from remarkably restoring parity.
Medda rode the storm and looked home and dry when Jamie Martin curled home a beauty of a strike with six minutes left on the clock.
But there was a double dose of drama deep into stoppage time when home defender Willie Lyle turned the ball into his own net and then Marc McKenzie was denied a last ditch chance to earn Hurlford a Premier point.
And Grierson was honest enough to admit: “At 3-0 it looked like the game was done. But when Hurlford scored you could see our confidence take a wee bit of a hit.
“I think we maybe made it harder for ourselves than we needed it to be. But I’m not going to dissect too much out it. It’s about getting three points at the end of the day.
“I’ve said before that if we can take four points out of six going forward then I’ll be happy and that’s two games we’ve not been beat.”
Grierson handed new signing Kerr a place in the starting 11 and the midfielder repaid the faith shown in him by opening the scoring in 12 minutes.
The former Whitletts ace started and finished a quick passing move in the Ford box, side-footing home from eight yards.
Boyd should have doubled Meadow’s lead 10 minutes later but somehow steered Calum Gow’s knockdown wide of the target from close range.
Strike partner Callum Graham showed him the way to goal when he smashed an unstoppable strike into the top corner from 20 yards just before the half hour mark.
Hurlford had hardly created a chance despite seeing plenty of the ball and could have no complaints about being two goals adrift at the interval.
And their afternoon went from bad to worse when Boyd volleyed a third past goalkeeper Martin McDonald in 55 minutes.
It was a fantastic effort from the frontman who took one touch to flick up Kerr’s pass on the edge of the box and another to arrow a shot past McDonald at his near post.
It was difficult to see a way back for Hurlford but slack marking at a corner kick allowed Paul McKenzie, the smallest man on the park, to head home and reduce the deficit to two.
The game suddenly opened up, Boyd forcing McDonald into a fine save in a one-on-one while, at the other end, Mullen rounded Waters only to see his shot come back off the post.
Mullen would have better luck in 79 minutes when he headed home from point blank range to put Hurlford on the brink of an amazing comeback.
Waters then clawed two efforts off his goal line as the visitors threw the kitchen sink at an equaliser.
Meadow held their nerve however and when Martin found the top corner with an exquisite curling finish from 17 yards it proved just enough to get them over the line.
Lyle’s stoppage time OG ensured a nervy few last minutes and the home support held their collective breath when Marc McKenzie bulldozed his way into the six yard box only for the referee to blow for an earlier infringement.
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