Dalbeattie Star boss Eddie Warwick praised his side for showing their battling qualities on Saturday.
The Lowland League’s bottom club twice came from behind to draw 2-2 with East Stirlingshire, despite having a man sent off.
And Warwick believes they displayed a fighting spirit that wasn’t evident before he took charge.
He said: “I think six weeks ago that team would have folded and crumbled.
“Since then I’ve brought in six players and let five go. I’ve got a big, competitive squad.
“We’ve brought in the best we can, the new faces have gelled really well and we’re looking really good.
“Five minutes from the end, we were getting beaten 2-1 in a game I don’t think we deserved to be behind in.
“You’ve got to commend the character of the players for being behind twice and fighting back.”
Kyle Ewing headed Shire into an early lead but Steven Degnan levelled before the break.
Star had Francis Kilpatrick sent off after the break before Shire thought they’d won it when Connor Greene fired them back in front from the penalty spot.
But despite being a man down, Myles Gaffney forced home a late equaliser to salvage a point, the visitors then having Dean Watson dismissed in stoppage time.
Warwick said: “I’m not one to complain about referees as I always take responsibility myself but I do think we were on the wrong end of big decisions.
“On another day our red card could have been a yellow. Our boys swear blind their penalty was never a penalty – we have watched it back on the footage and the red card looked soft and the penalty looked very soft.
“Their guy got sent off but smashed our goalkeeper with his knee 10 minutes before that and could have been off.
“We had a strong penalty shout in the first half and the referee laughed it off. There were four big decisions and we didn’t get any of them, which I suppose is football, but you’d like to think we’d have got one of them.
“We had a bad result the week before so to change it round so quickly and get a point, I don’t think anybody gave us a chance against a team like that.
“They’re not doing well either but they have good players, they have more money than us, and their players are of better quality so on paper we shouldn’t be getting anything.”
Warwick has recently added two more players to his squad, midfielder Gavin Gallagher coming in on loan from St Mirren with Lewis Campbell being signed following his departure from Airdrie.
Star will have to wait a while for their next game as they have no fixture this Saturday, with the following weekend’s game against Hearts B likely to be postponed.
Warwick said: “They’re in a winter camp so it looks like it will be off.
“We’ve tough games between now and the end of the year and we’re not able to build momentum.”
