Jack Crawford
JOHNSTONE Burgh caretaker manager Tommy Montgomery praised his players for battling their way to a 2-2 draw in the first leg of the Scottish Junior Cup semi-final with Arthurlie.
The Keanie Park team twice had to come from behind in Sunday’s match, with all to play for heading into this weekend’s return fixture.
Mark Docherty had opened the scoring for the hosts at Dunterlie Park before Kyle Lafferty marked his return from injury by netting the equaliser for Burgh from the penalty spot.
Connor Bradley’s stunning strike put Arthurlie back in front but Dale Simeon earned a draw for the visitors by tapping the ball into the net at the back post following a neat passage of play down the left.
Montgomery was forced into a number of changes for the match, with players missing either due to injury or being cup tied, but he was pleased with the response after a tricky start.
He said: “We started the game particularly nervous, which I was surprised about because we’ve got an experienced dressing room.
“It took us 20 minutes to get going but, once we got the goal back, I said to the boys just to be smart about how we go about the rest of the game.
“The second half was nip and tuck before they came up with a bit of brilliance to go ahead but we’ve got good characters in there and the boys dug in and managed to get an equaliser.
“I’m really pleased with the strength of the squad but also the adaptability.
“We asked a couple of boys towards the end to go in and play positions that they probably aren’t familiar with.
“It was great that the boys showed their adaptability and resilience.”
Montgomery admits he doesn’t know what type of team he will be able to field for the second leg, with some players forced back into the starting line-up earlier than he would have liked on Sunday.
He explained: “We have players cup tied, so there was a few we brought back from injury a wee bit earlier than we normally would have.
“They’ve got minutes in the tank but we’ll need to see what the injury situation is.
“Our game plan will depend on the bodies we’ve got available.”
Saturday’s second leg at Keanie Park kicks off at the later-thanusual time of 5.30pm.