Johnstone Burgh proved fortune favours the bold after recovering from a red card to pick up a crucial win against fellow promotion hopefuls Drumchapel United.
The hosts at Keanie Park were cruising at half-time, leading 2-0 through Jojo Gillespie and Jordan Murch’s close-range efforts.
Drumchapel battled back after the break, scoring twice in the space of two minutes before Burgh’s Thomas Cruden saw red for a poor challenge as the wheels threatened to come off.
Despite going down to 10 men, Burgh boss Jamie McKim stuck to his usual game plan when down a player, by putting another striker on to the pitch.
And the brave move eventually paid off – with the home side wrapping up all three points thanks to Keiran Brophy’s late penalty.
Delighted McKim told Renfrewshire Live Sport: “It was a great game for the neutral, but for a manager it was torture.
“It should have been a lot more comfortable than it ended up being.
“We missed a chance to make it three from six yards just before half-time. At that point the game would have been done.
“They scored twice in 90 seconds in the second half and then Cruden got sent-off for a ridiculous tackle. There was no complaints from me, it was a poor challenge.
“They had the momentum with them at that point and normally you’d think the game was only heading for one result. We have a plan that we always go to when we go down to 10 men, though, which includes having two up front.
“We brought a second striker on and thankfully we managed to get ahead again from the spot and then hold out quite comfortably in the end.
“People often think when you go down a man you need to sit in and try not to lose it. But in doing that you often invite pressure on to yourself.
“We always go to two up top and try to score again. It doesn’t always work, but thankfully this time it did.
“It is a risk, but with every risk comes rewards and we got ours this time around.”
While Burgh – who sit sixth in the table – still need results elsewhere to go their way, there is still a slim chance they could make it into the WoSFL First Division top three and earn promotion to the top flight this season.
With a tricky trip to Valefield Park this weekend to take on Kilbirnie Ladeside, who occupy fourth spot, McKim is solely focused on picking up as many points as possible from their remaining six matches before letting the chips fall where they may.
He said: “The top six are all playing each other this weekend so there’s still a lot to play for.
“Unfortunately we’ve missed a couple of big opportunities recently and now it’s nowhere near in our hands.
“You never know in football. All we can do is focus on ourselves and try to pick up as many points as we possibly can.”
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