EastKilbridedroppointsforthefirsttimethisseason
Edinburgh Uni .......... 1 East Kilbride ............ 1
Paul Thomson
East Kilbride boss Brian Kerr blasted his table-toppers for failing to find their shooting boots at Edinburgh University.
Kilby missed a hatful of chances against the students and Kerr reckons they should have had the game out of sight before the break.
As it was, they had to settle for a point after Abdul Yusuf pounced on Craig Reid’s error just before half-time to cancel out Ross McNeil’s opener – ending Kilby’s 100 per cent start to the season.
Kerr said: “We should have had the game won inside the first half an hour, but we’ve all seen it before in football that if you don’t take your chances it can come back to bite you a little bit.
“We created seven or eight great chances in the first half that would have been goals on any other day.
“After so many chances, you start thinking it’s not going to be our day and that’s how it turned out.
“Reidy has got caught in two minds a bit so it’s a small error that’s cost us there, but we should have done enough in the first half to be out of sight.
“It’s come down to a bit of bad luck and poor finishing. Aside from that I thought the boys still did well.”
Kilby started strongly and, just as they did against Stirling University last midweek, they grabbed an early goal.
With 11 minutes on the clock, Paul Woods linked up with Sean Winter and the former slipped in McNeil to net his fifth league goal in six games.
But with chances going a-begging, Kilby shot themselves in the foot when Reid - who later went off injured - got caught in possession and Yusuf was able to lob Matt McGinley from fully 30-yards to earn a share of the spoils.
East Kilbride have now gone three games without a win over the Peffermill outfit, following a defeat and a draw last season.
But they are not the only big hitters to suffer. Rivals Spartans and Kelty Hearts have also been held by Edinburgh this term and Kerr added: “There’s no doubt they are a difficult side and it’s a difficult place to go.
“You can see why they’ve caused teams problems. They are physical and strong.
“But we’ve shown this season when we are on top of our game no-one can handle us in this league. We just didn’t reach the standards we’ve set for ourselves.”
EK remain top of the table, but their lead has been cut to two points, with Selkirk’s resignation from the league voiding the three points and goals they claimed for a 10-0 win in August.
Kilby now have a two-week break before they return to league action with Saturday’s IRN-BRU Cup clash against Edinburgh City followed by a South Challenge Cup tie with Bo’ness United on September 15. Both are 3pm kick-offs at K-Park.
P EAST KILBRIDE 6 Spartans 6 CS Strollers 6 Cumbernauld Colts Kelty Hearts Vale of Leithen Edusport Academy BSC Glasgow East Stirlingshire Edinburgh Uni Gala Fairydean Rvs7 Stirling University Dalbeattie Star Gretna 2008 WhitehillWelfare W 5 4 4 4 3 3 2 2 2 1 2 1 1 1 1 D 1 2 1 0 2 1 3 3 2 4 0 3 2 2 0 L 0 0 1 2 1 3 1 2 3 2 5 3 4 3 6 GD 14 13 5 1 10 -3 3 -1 7 0 -6 -7 -8 -10 -17 PT 16 14 13 12 11 10 9 9 8 7 6 6 5 5 3
Other results East Stirling 1 Edusport 2; Gala Fairydean Rovers 0 Civil Service Strollers 2; Gretna 2008 0 Spartans 4; Stirling Uni 2 BSC Glasgow 3; Vale of Leithen 0 Kelty Hearts 4; Whitehill Welfare 3, Dalbeattie Star 0.