GLENAFTON came within seconds of inflicting the first league defeat of the season on table-toppers Irvine Meadow.

Having got their noses in front in the last minute of regulation time, they were reminded of how cruel football can be when a free-kick in stoppage time took a crazy deflection off the Glens’ defensive wall and spun into the net.

Gutted gaffer Tommy Bryce said: “We were so disappointed in the dressing room after the game, it felt like a defeat but we have to take a massive boost from our performance.

“We created several chances and paid the price for not converting them, but the result gives us a lift going into a very difficult game at Hurlford on Saturday — but all matches are difficult in this league.

“Hurlford also had a good result, going to Barrhead and beating Arthurlie 5-1, but thankfully we have a full squad going into the match, there are no injury worries.” Several key players performed well against Meadow, who came to Loch Park with a 100 per cent record, with Alain Kinney involved in much of the home side’s attacking forays into the opposition half.

The striker agreed with his manager that they felt it was two points dropped, especially as it is the second time this season they have lost a crucial late goal.

He said: “Troon scored earlier on in the season with the last kick of the ball to get a point and Meadow did the same thing, but it is enjoyable playing big games such as Saturday.

“People will maybe look back at the end of the season and say it was a good result to get a draw against an undefeated side at the top of the league, but it never felt that way against Meadow.

“Their keeper was the man-of-the-match — that tells you everything about how the game went — some of his saves were unbelievable, but we felt we deserved the three points.” Kinney was another contender for the game’s top performer and he was pleased to score, having had a comparatively unproductive spell in front of goal recently.

“To be honest I feel I have been playing well since the start of the season, allbeit I hadn’t scored for four games before Saturday, but I was there to take the chances and am quite happy with my form.

“Saturday’s visit to Hurlford will be tense. Any match against them does not need to be built up, but we will go there confident of a win as we do going into every game.”