Newtongrange Star boss McLeish left frustrated by draw

Newtongrange star and Broughty Athletic battled out a 1-1 draw

The relegation-threatened home side fell behind to a first-half strike by Jamie Winter but salvaged a point with ten minutes remaining through Kyle Lander’s neat finish.

McLeish said: “We were well below our best in the first half and gave away a stupid goal; a goal I had warned the players about beforehand.

“After the break, we picked up the pace of the game and, although it took us a long time to get the equaliser, it was a beauty when it came.

“I think Broughty will be happy to go back up the road with a point because we did enough in the last 45 minutes to win the game.”

Broughty had the bulk of the play early on without creating any real openings. It was 15 minutes before Star forced a save from Ian Ross when a David Morris screamer was tipped around the post by the keeper.

Minutes later, at the other end, Star goalkeeper Liam Amos was given a glimpse of what lay ahead when Jamie Winter forced a great save from him. Play then became scrappy until just before the break when Winter picked up the ball outside the penalty box and curled a super effort into the top corner for the opening goal.

A good half-time talk was needed for Star if they were to take anything from this game. It looked to have worked when Morris forced another great save from Ross.

Newtongrange stepped up the pace as full-time drew near and grabbed a well-deserved leveller with ten minutes to go. It was a super finish from a striker in form. Morris sent over a low cross to the front post where Lander superbly flicked the ball high into the net.

Newtongrange: Amos, Swaney, Trialist, Hamilton, Richardson, Currie, Morris, Lally, Lander, O’Brien, Bracks. Subs: Murray, Cropley, Wilson, Sinclair, Flynn.

Broughty Athletic: Ross, McCunnie, Blair, Buchan, Myles, Suttie, McLennan, Winter, Clark, McConachie, Lawson. Subs: Lannen, Allerdyce, Smart, King, Collier.