Arthurlie left to rue missed chances
Arthurlie blew a two-goal lead in the final 15 minutes to draw 2-2 draw with Rutherglen Glencairn at Dunterlie.
Duncan Sinclair’s men appeared to be home and dry with three points in the bag following goals from James Marks and Lee Roulston.
However, the visitors’never-say-die attitude paid dividends in the closing stages as they snatched an unlikely point to maintain a four-point cushion between the second and third-placed sides.
Arthurlie came racing out of the traps as Del Esplin fired inches wide, before Del McNab fired across Glens keeper Garry Whyte inside the opening five minutes.
Former‘Lie striker Gary Smith was also proving dangerous at the other end, with the hosts having to rely upon defender Niall Reynolds to block his low drive.
Smith then fired a free-kick over the bar from 25 yards during a period of sustained pressure.
But the deadlock was eventually broken in 43 minutes after Marks capitalised on a defensive mix-up to squeeze the ball beyond Whyte.
The stopper then made an important block to deny Marks in first-half stoppage time, to ensure the sides went in at 1-0.
Arthurlie made one change at the break, with Matthew McLean replacing left-back Connor Bradley. And the switch did little to swing the momentum as the Barrhead outfit continued to push forward in search of a second.
Marks was again unlucky not to double his tally in the 53rd minute after spinning away from his marker and smashing the bar from 30 yards.
The hosts did double their lead shortly after as Roulston supplied the finish after a mis-hit effort wormed its way across the face of goal.
Arthurlie could have made it 3-0 in 70 minutes but McNab’s header was denied by a fine save.
The Glencairn bench sprung to life as they threw on an extra striker in the shape of Liam Gormley for the final 20 minutes. And it didn’t take long for the change to pay off as Smith’s pass to the substitute was expertly dispatched past James Digney.
Hal Bohme’s header cannoned back off the bar as Arthurlie strived to restore their two-goal advantage but the tide had turned in favour of the visitors and they were on level terms in 83 minutes.
Tony Fraser’s free-kick was headed back across goal by Stevie Kerr, right on to the head of Smith who duly obliged from a yard out to put the dagger into his former side.
A winning goal looked likely for Glencairn in 87 minutes as Digney fumbled a high ball but Smith couldn’t find his shooting boots as he failed to get a strike away before the defence recovered.
Roulston’s snap-shot at the other end went close in stoppage time but the ball curled wide as the referee blew for full-time.
Arthurlie: Digney, Etherson, Bradley (McLean), Reynolds, Mushet, Molloy, Payne (Bohme), Roulston, Marks (Docherty), McNab, Reid
Subs not used: McLaren, Nicol.