Glens survive late scares to beat Beith
RUTHERGLEN GLENCAIRN ...... 1 BEITH ............................................ 0 Rutherglen No.2 Joe Pryce hailed his side’s hard work after they were forced to end the match with 10men – and survived a late penalty scare – in their win over Beith.
Pryce admits it was something of a scalp to beat the visitors on Saturday, with Tommy Lone’s corner headed in by brother Michael for a crucial winner in the West of Scotland Premier Division clash.
Glencairn had to battle against some odds, with defender Kyle Chrystal crocked after all subs had been used, and Beith were awarded a last-gasp penalty which was then rescinded when it was established that no contact had been made.
Following last week’s defeat to Troon, Pryce was delighted to see his side to bounce back.
He said: “It was a good, solid, hard-working team performance on Saturday.
“There weren’t many chances in the game, but we certainly created the better ones throughout.
“It was a tough game, Beith are a good side. I think they had been nine unbeaten when they came into the game, and in our league that’s no mean feat, so for us to get past them, it was going to take a real team effort, and that’s what we got on Saturday.
“It’s good to get the three points on the board, they were vital. Every point you get in this league is vital, and to get past Beith was a really big win for us.
“With the disappointment of losing last week to Troon, it was really important to bounce back quickly, we managed to do that right away by getting three points on the board.”
On the late controversy, Pryce added: “Between the officials they came to the right decision, because you could see on the highlights that there was no contact, and you could see from the reaction of our players – they were adamant that there was no contact.
“I don’t think the Beith lad was trying to con the referee, the pitch was quite slippery underfoot and I think he just fell over.”
Glencairn now host a Cumnock side that sit 12th in the table, three places below Glencairn, and currently without a manager after Tony McInally relieved of his duties on Sunday.
Pryce admits he doesn’t know what to expect, but says Glens must make home advantage count again.
“It certainly won’t be easy,” he said. “We know that Cumnock are a good side, their manager just moved on last weekend, so we don’t really know what we’re going to get.
“It was going to be a difficult game anyway, before the manager was moved on, and it’s going to be even tougher this weekend. Every game in this league is tough, it doesn’t matter who comes up, or who we visit, we’ve really got to work our socks off to get anything in this division.
“At the moment the players are doing that, and great credit to them.”