Cumbernauld Colts 1 Hawick RA 1: Colts battle back to earn point

There was not much to split the sides in the opening exchanges, with Colts winger Owen Ronald causing most the problems on the right hand side.

He managed to use his pace to get to the byline on several occasions and got crosses into the box, the first of which was on three minutes when his teasing ball was headed over by Stephen O’Neill.

The best chance was created after 18 minutes, when Ronald again found his way through the Hawick defence but his cutback couldn’t find a team mate and a vital touch from visiting keeper Andy Jack kept the scores at 0-0.

However, the best chance of the match to this point fell to the Albert after a smart flick on the half way line by Thomas Crease sparked a counter attack where Kris Mitchell drove at the Colts defence before he slipped in Josh Morris, but his strike was well saved by Chris Fahey.

Morris again had a chance for the Royalists as his glancing header beat the keeper but just beat the post.

The visitors got their reward for their pressure on 26 minutes when some neat work down the left wing by Ewan Saunderson and Hamish Hunter, before the latter cut inside and found Mitchell, who drove through a gap in the Colts defence before slotting into the bottom right corner to give Hawick the lead.

Cumbernauld had the chance to level after 33 minutes when they were awarded a free kick in an excellent position but Lee Foggin fired it over the bar.

Colts didn’t learn from earlier mistakes as another sloppy defence pass almost gifted Hawick the chance to double their lead.

But 10 minutes into the second half came the turning point for the hosts.

Substitute Sean Brown was introduced into the action and he made an instant impact using his pace to get in behind the Hawick defence. Brown created the best opportunity of the second half as the corner was swung in and he nodded the ball back into the danger zone and the visitors survived the goalmouth scramble.

It was the man Brown who found the equaliser on 70 minutes. An excellent delivery from a free-kick on the right was headed home by the substitute as the Colts looked to get the upper hand and go onto win the match.

However, these hopes were given a setback three minutes later as skipper Jamie Broadfoot was sent off after he swiped down Hawick’s Hunter on a counter attack.

This brought the visitors back into life and it was now an even contest as both sides went searching for the winner.

Super sub Brown had a great chance as he raced down the right wing before cutting inside to then have his shot saved by Jack as the game finished all square.

After the match, Cumbernauld goalkeeper Fahey gave his assessment on the game:

He said: “We didn’t start well but we were much better in the second half.

“We had our chances to win, but didn’t take them, so that’s the story of our season really.

“I thought we could’ve got the winner, but the sending off made it a 50/50 game again. We are disappointed overall”.