On the face of it, a draw at Kilwinning is a very acceptable outcome for Rangers in their quest for a quick return to the Premier division.

The scoreline though does not begin to reflect the way this game unfolded. Both sides will feel that they should have claimed a victory as fortunes went first, one way, and then the other, with Kilsyth grimly hanging on for the draw after twice throwing away a two goal lead. Over the piece Kilwinning had by far the bulk of the pressure, but the luck went to Kilsyth and in the end both should be fairly happy to pick up a first league point.

Rangers started the game with two key players missing, Greg McDonald and Paul Doyle both away on holiday. Their loss was evident almost immediately as Kilwinning pressed forward from the kick-off and made several scoring chances within the first five minutes. There were definiite signs of panic and disorganisation at the heart of the defence and Duke had to pull out a couple of good saves to kepp the scoresheet clean. Kilsyth did eventually manage to get upfield though and Andy Thomson had an effort from a freekick come of the wall. A couple of minutes later though and McPEAKE burst through into the home penalty box, there was a suspicion of handball by a defender but the referee allowed play to carry on and he hit a soft shot which slowly trundled to the net for a goal very much against the run of play. It was a more even game now although there was always a sense of danger every time the ball went anywhere near the Kilsyth goal. Approaching halftime and a rare break by Kilsyth gave Tony Martin the chance to run into thr box where he was promptly fouled. Andy THOMSON made his usual efficient job with the spot-kick and Kilsyth rather undeservedly held a two goal interval lead.

Only two minutes into the second half and Kilwinning got one back, the unmarked GILMOUR heading in a good cross. It looked like Kilsyth were going to be up against it but within five minutes they had restored their two goal lead when Andy THOMSON lobbed the ball over Ross from outside the box. Manager Matt Coulter made a tactical substitution by bringing on Alan Upton for Martin. In the event it proved to be the wriong move as Upton took exception to being fouled on the edge of the box and was yellow carded within a minute of his entry to the play. Not much later and he took a lunge at the same Kilwinning player and after the resulting fracas he was shown a second yellow and Rangers were down to ten with more than half an hour remaining. Kilwinning saw their chance and launched into a series of attacks which caused severe panic in the Kilsyth defence at times. Inevitably they reduced the deficit but it was a result of an uncharacteristic blunder by Duke when he failed to properly gather a half-hit shot and BAXTER hit the ball home.

With Rangers now in a state of near chaos at the back at times now it was a question of whether they could hold out till the end but justice, for the home side at least, was done when TYLER got their equaliser from a header which was a carbon copy of their first. A point apiece was probably the right result in the end but Kilsyth will need to tighten up considerably at the back if they are to challenge for a promotion place.

KILWINNING; Ross, Grant, Tinney, Taylor, Baxter, Broadfield, Gordon, Mason, Tyler, Orr, Gilmour. Subs. Smith, Philipson, Crosbie, McGivern, Harkness.

KILSYTH; Duke, Gary Meechan, Carr, Gallacher, Whitelaw, McGinty, Valentine, McPeake, Thomson, Martin, Daly. Subs. Upton, S McDonald, Dalrymple, Baird, Stevenson (g/k)

Game this Wednesday 27th August, away to Arthurlie Sectional League cup quarter final K.O. 6-30pm.

Game next Saturday 30th August home to Port Glasgow, league match, K.O. 2pm