Glencairn

Rutherglen Glencairn boss Willie Harvey revealed his heartbeat was racing as his side came from a goal down four times to win an enthralling nine-goal thriller.

The Celsius Stadium gaffer breathed a huge sigh of relief as the referee, who made some controversial calls during The Glens 5-4 victory over Larkhall Thistle, blew the final whistle.

He said:“I don’t think my heart could have taken much more of that.

“To come back as many times as they did, it just shows you how the guys showed the right attitude and willingness to get back into the game. Their character was never questioned.”

But despite the incredible resilience his side showed, Harvey was deeply disappointed with the manner in which his players conceded their goals – and the referee’s performance.

He said:“That’s the first time in a while I’ve heard the ref booed by both sets of fans. He made some crazy, crazy decisions.

“The penalty he gave against us was never a penalty and the one he gave for us wasn’t either.

“I cannot understand why he has given them a penalty, nobody claimed for it, everyone was ready to start the game again and he points to the spot.

“I looked over to Duncan Sinclair, their manager, and he just shrugged his shoulders as if to say,‘I don’t know what that’s for’.

“Larkhall will be rightly aggrieved but just before we scored our penalty at the end, I thought we should have got one for a handball in the box.

“But that doesn’t excuse the goals we are letting in. We seem to have cured things up at the top end [scoring goals] but the annoying thing is, apart from the penalty, the other three goals were avoidable.”

However, Harvey did hail striker Jay McKay for keeping his cool as he slotted home the 95th-minute winning penalty kick to seal all three points.

He added: “We joked that if he missed he was getting sold because he missed the last one. But fair play to him, it is a lot of pressure to step up when you know it’s likely to be the last kick of the game and he’s showed great composure to tuck it away.”