Stewart's view after agonising cup exit

Well, Saturday was certainly a game for the neutrals with goals, red cards and last-minute heart break after a valiant comeback.

The opening minutes of the game saw both sides create some good opportunities but it was the hosts opened the scoringas we failed to deal with a long ball and the Neilston striker took full advantage. Neilston were heavily overloading the wide areas and it was proving difficult for our back line in these early exchanges.

A Ross Lamb free-kick was a bit special and brought us level and we did settle a bit after that but  a quick-fire double, one being a questionable penalty decision left us trailing at half time. Just to make matters worse Nathan McDonald was given his marching orders after a second yellow right on half time for what appeared to be a very innocuous challenge. So, 3-1 and down to 10 men to finish the first half looked to be an uphill struggle.

That never give up attitude is always there with this team though, second half we were more aggressive and more compact defensively, frustrating our opponents. Substitutes Harry McGill and Scott Inglis also had a very positive impact, earning us a penalty which Kyle Kivlichan slotted away confidently.

Neilston scored again inside the last ten minutes to restore their two goal cushion and seemingly put the game to bed. However, as I said at the beginning, this game had everything and a bit of quick thinking from Ross (Lamb) at a free kick put Scott Inglis clear and we pulled another one back with cool finish from Scott. In the dying minutes injury time, the referee gives Rovers another penalty and gives one of the Neilston centre backs a red card. A huge chance to take the game to extra time and with equal numbers but it was heart break for us as the ‘keeper guesses the right way and saves Kyle’s spot kick.

Again, we’d like to thank our hosts for the hospitality and wish them luck in the next round while we move on back to league action next weekend.