A DEPLETED Glens squad fought back to take a point from Arthurlie in a match which could have gone either way.

While the Barrhead side showed they are capable of some excellent football, they have a poor disciplinary record and irked Glens boss Craig McEwan with some aspects of their play.

Speaking to the Chronicle as his players went back on the park for a warm-down, he said: “Arthurlie turned it into a mishmash with their style of play and their antics off the park.

“But, it is what it is and we need to understand that, as league champions and cup holders, teams are going to come and try to stifle us, knock us out of our rhythm and stop us from playing.

“I am not saying that we are the finished article and we are amazing — we are nowhere near that as there is a bit to go and a lot to come.”

There was a hint of frustration in McEwan’s after-match thoughts as he felt the points were there to be won.

He said: “It was an end-to-end game and we started really well. For the first 10 minutes we played well, then Conor missed a chance and they scored.

“It seemed to knock the stuffing out of us, which is very unlike us. We usually galvanise ourselves and get going again. But it took us a while to get going there today.

“We said to them at half-time that we’ll go again and try and win the game.

“As much as we never played particularly well today I felt, over the piece, that we had chances to go and win it.

“They will probably say the same thing, though, as Brian had a good save with 10 minutes remaining.”

Glenafton will not be the first team to drop points at Dunterlie, which the gaffer says will be a hard place to come for a lot of clubs.

“They looked a threat and, although we weren’t great by any stretch of the imagination, it might turn out to be a very valuable point at some stage in the season.

“We finished the stronger team and looked fitter towards the end and, to be fair to the players, they showed the character I expected them to show.

“They were told at half-time to ‘go out and get something from the game’.

“We will work hard on the training ground this week, take stock of where we are, and go again versus Kilbirnie.

“Ryan Borris has broken ribs, Cammy Marlow has an ankle problem, Kyle McAusland was away this weekend.

“You can see with Craig Potter on the bench the position we are in.

“In fairness to Conor, who has been out for some time, we’ve asked him to come in and play a lot of football, especially over the last week or so, and he is feeling it, especially with the hard surface today.”