A LAST gasp injury-time goal from Ryan McKie helped the Seasiders battle back to secure a deserved point.

It took under a minute for the Jaggy Bunnets to forge ahead when a ball over the top was dispatched to the net by Dougie McMaster and, with the wind at their backs, the visitors created enough chances to win the game before half-time. Gordon Young fired just over the bar from distance then McMaster shot wide off James Ballantynes’s cross.

Vics could have equalized when a Ryan McKie shot hit ‘keeper Lyle Avci and, following a monumental scramble, the ball was cleared. A low shot from Joe Young was held at the second attempt by Lugar’s nervous-looking goalkeeper but it was Lugar who had the better chances. Home ‘keeper Jim Catterson only just managed to get to the ball ahead of Andy Johnstone after a Sean McKenzie header had come back off the bar. Catterson then rescued Seumas McGeady after the ex-Lugar defender had misjudged a high ball and McKenzie’s shot was blocked by the ‘keeper. At the end of the half Catterson was again the hero when he beat away a McMaster header to keep the half-time deficit at one goal.

Early in the second half referee Liam Gallagher, who hit quite a few wrong notes during the game, spotted something few others did as Lugar lined up a corner and Davie Clapperton was shown a red card.

The home side sensed a way back into the game and Young rattled the bar with a 25-yard rocket before another goalmouth melee, for which the word “stramash” might have been coined, saw both Mark Kilpatrick and sub Calvin Smith have shots blocked on the line. With 62 minutes played though, Derek Frye’s men got the equalizer when Avci failed to claim a lofted free-kick and the ball dropped to Liam Curran who smashed it home.

The 10 men bounced back five minutes later, however, when McKenzie sent substitute Luke McCowan away down the left and he struck a low shot across goal and in at the far corner. Both ‘keepers were in action late on as Catterson went one-on-one with substitute James Hilton and came out on top. Then Avci managed to block a close-range header from Curran.

With the watch showing 90 minutes, Home player Seamus McGeady then picked up a second yellow card for a rash challenge.

But Lugar failed to see out the seven minutes of stoppage time and in the 93rd minute an attempted clearance struck a Saltcoats forward and broke to the unmarked McKie who shot past Avci to tie the scores at the end.

SALTCOATS VICTORIA: Catterson; White, McGeady, Arthur, Murray, McClelland, Kilpatrick, Weaver, Young, McKie, Curran. Subs: Smith, Ingram, Easdon, Quinn.

LUGAR BOSWELL THISTLE: Avci; Waite, Ballantyne, McCreadie, Muir, Faulds, McMaster, Young, McKenzie, Johnstone, Clapperton. Subs: McCowan, Hilton, Antoine, Kirkwood, Thomson.

For the full story see this week's Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald.