Greenock cure travel sickness

GREENOCK dug deep to overcome an injury crisis and claim a precious point on the road.

Aidan Duffy, below, gave Greenock the lead before Kilsyth made it 2-2.

The visitors could have snatched a dramatic late winner from the penalty spot but Adam Houlihan’s effort was saved by the Rangers shot-stopper.

The Ravenscraig men move up one place in the Second Division table to 11th position.

Despite blowing the chance to claim all three points, manager Ian Nixon was pleased with his side’s performance.

He told the Tele: “It was a fair result on reflection on a very sodden pitch.

“Playing good football was always going to be difficult although we did put up a battle.

“We showed a lot of character and we adapted well to playing against Kilsyth’s style of play as they were very strong through the middle, so we changed things to create more width and we got results from this.

“We were better in the second half and scored two good goals either side of the break.

“It was a shame we did not convert the late penalty, although a point away was still good for us and now we look forward to hosting Glasgow United.”

Rangers took the lead on 13 minutes when Prentice headed in at the back post from a right-flank cross to steer past Callum Robertson.

‘Nock probed the Kilsyth backline to find a leveller and made it 1-1 just before the break when Craig Brown and Duffy combined to set up Liam Lapsley, who tucked it away with a fine finish.

The Ravenscraig men came out for the second half with renewed vigour and took the lead inside nine minutes of the restart, with Duffy’s brilliant long-range effort from distance swerved and dipped into the goal after he accepted Jamie Cunningham’s through-ball.

Greenock’s casualty list continues to grow and shortly after his goal Duffy was taken off injured.

Rangers came back at ‘Nock and they levelled five minutes later when the visitors failed to clear their lines and Thomson fired home the loose ball.

There was late drama three minutes from the end when Reece Allen was felled in the penalty area and Houlihan’s resultant penalty kick was saved, with the Kilsyth ‘keeper blocking the rebound.

On Saturday ‘Nock host Glasgow United with a 1.30pm kick-off.

Greenock: Callum Robertson, Ryan Corr, Dec McFadyen, Ben Lauchlan, Dec Black, Adam Houlihan, Jamie Cunningham, Liam Lapsley (Trialist 1, 85), Craig Brown (Cammy McPhee, 80), Aidan Duffy (Reece Allen, 63), Tam McAuliffe. Subs not used: Jack McInnes, Trialist 2.

● Greenock are sponsored by Saveheat, Keystore Cowal View, Declan Byrne Music and The Lighthouse Bar.