NO.1 FOR JUNIORS
OUT of the blue, or to put it more accurately the sky blue, Arthurlie snatched a 4-3 victory from the jaws of defeat against Rob Roy on Saturday.
One could never have envisaged making this comment after Chris Mackie’s side roared out of their Dunterlie blocks to all but blow the Rabs away in establishing a 2-0 lead with just 14 minutes gone thanks to a Marc McKenzie free kick and Michael Daly’s close range strike following a penalty box melee.
Further goals could have been added to the scoreline as the Barrhead outfit continued to wreak havoc going forward, most notably the powerful running McKenzie who was finding space almost at will to torment the Kirkintilloch backline.
A through pass on the half hour mark from team-mate Colin Spence set the striker running clear on goal but his attempt to chip Michael McKinven only succeeded in directing a lame effort into the visiting goalkeeper’s arms.
That miss was regretted minutes later as Spence felled Gavin Mackie from behind at the other end of the pitch to bring referee Chris Graham to immediately point to the penalty spot.
But even the most diehard Rob Roy supporters must have felt this was not going to be their day as Kevin Watt’s tame spot-kick was saved by the feet of diving Barrhead No.1 Grant Hay.
Given how everything had gone in their favour over the opening 45 minutes, Arthurlie might be excused for a slightly sluggish restart.
However, what followed was not far off a total collapse and little wonder that gaffer Mackie and assistants Jimmy Lindsay and Derek Frye were near-apoplectic on the touchline.
The Lie boss admitted: “I don’t know why the players do it to themselves - and me for that matter - but we simply imploded for 15-20 minutes and almost gifted the points to Rob Roy.
“It’s so frustrating as we had been excellent first half, with McKenzie in particular unplayable, and the last words I said to the guys was to keep things tight and give nothing away to encourage Maxi and his players over the next quarter of an hour.
“Thankfully, we had the spirit and character to get back into the game and I thought it was a truly wonderful header from Daly that pulled it out of the bag for us.”
The visitors’ reduced the deficit early in the second period as Watt’s ball across goal was turned in by Shaun Fraser.
Quite remarkably the scores were tied at 2-2 just minutes later as Mackie turned inside 25-yards out and unleashed a glorious shot that beat Hay all ends up.
A now buoyant Rob Roy continued to dictate the tempo and unsurprisingly they got their noses in front when Lee Gallagher’s drive rebounded off the upright into the path of Watt and he adroitly converted to atone for his penalty kick bloomer.
Danny Boyle’s header from a free kick almost doubled the advantage and this near thing acted to spark Arthurlie back into life.
But substitute Jordan Craig