East Kilbride slipped up again last night in their quest for the Lowland League title but boss Kevin Rutkiewicz was happy to see his side show improvements in their 1-1 draw with Broomhill.
Kilby recovered from conceding a Ryan Tierney goal after eight minutes to level moments later through Bob McHugh, but that was where the scoring stopped at K-Park as EK bounced back from Friday night's shock defeat at Cumbernauld Colts.
Despite dropping more points, they moved up to fourth spot in the table and sit three points adrift of leaders Spartans - who they now host on Saturday.
But they could find themselves back in sixth spot tonight with Celtic B and Stirling Uni in action.
And Rutkiewicz was left ruing the chance to close the gap at the summit.
He said: "It was probably a fair result last night. We let it slip a bit in terms of being well on top, creating numerous chances and just not taking them.
"You've got to score when you are on top and we didn't capitalise on that pressure we had after we equalised.
"In the second half Broomhill came into it and had their own chances.
"I'm disappointed because I felt we let the game get away from us a wee bit.
"That said, it was night and day from Friday.
"We were far more competitive and we got a good reaction.
"It's a performance that I can put my name to and say it was more like us.
"The goal we lost was a calamity. There's a bit of indecision in defence and apart from the first 15 minutes of the first half and the last 15 of the second half, I felt we edged it.
"But the league has thrown up a few results last night that makes it incredibly tight.
"We march on to a really big game on Saturday now."
Kilby needed a last-gasp winner to see off Spartans 3-2 at Ainslie Park earlier in the season and admits he would take something similar when Dougie Samuel's league leaders come calling.
He added: "It's a massive game and a big opportunity to get one over on them and close that gap.
"It is there for us and I don't think the players need any motivation.
"We are at home and we'll be going to win the game.
"We know Spartans are going well and they are a strong team. They have been together a while and Dougie has done well there.
"We had a difficult game through there earlier in the season, which we managed to snatch late on and I'd definitely take that again.
"We know it will be difficult but we need to go out with the attitude that we need to win the game."
Follow Lanarkshire Live Sport on Twitter via @LanLiveSport, like us on Facebook or find us on Instagram for the latest sports news, pictures and video.
