St Cuthbert Wanderers boss Josh Gardner believes his side deserved all three points from their trip to Abbey Vale on Saturday.
Instead they left with nothing.
The game looked to be heading for a 1-1 draw only for Phil Middlemiss to bag a late winner for the hosts.
Gardner said: “I really felt for the boys. I think they were the better team and deserved the three points, we just didn’t get them.
“Sometimes in football you get what you deserve but sometimes you don’t and I don’t think we got what we deserved on Saturday.
“I was really pleased with the effort we put in. I’ve always been someone that puts performances before results. There’s been times I’ve won games and I’ve not been happy. Performance is something I look at straight away.
“I was more gutted for the players than anything else. You can still take positives from the performance. Results are great, that’s what we all go for every Saturday, but if we keep that performance up I’m certain they’ll get more points on the board.
“Fair play to Abbey Vale, they stuck at it and had the composure to put the winner away at the end. You’ve got to give your congratulations to them but I think
even they would have felt they got away with it.”
Vale had taken the lead just before the break when Dan Thom scored.
Jordan Lynch headed Saints level with 20 minutes to go and that looked to be enough for a point before Middlemiss’ dramatic intervention.
Despite the defeat, Gardner was pleased with the improvement from his side compared to the display they put in the previous week against Stranraer.
He said: “The work ethic and hard running were there that weren’t the
week before.
“They showed it against Dalbeattie and Mid Annandale but not against Stranraer.
“They were hard running and rolled their sleeves up in tough conditions and should have come away with the three points.
“We’ve lost a goal in the dying minutes, which to me looked offside. It was a great finish and he’s put it away very well. If we were being pernickety it could be because we didn’t take our opportunities in the final third but I’d rather focus on the positives.
“If we play like that between now and the end of the season we’ll win more than we lose.”
The Kirkcudbright side will have to wait a wee while to test that theory as they have a blank Saturday this weekend.
And while he’s trying to arrange a friendly, Gardner thinks it will be a struggle due to a busy fixture list for other teams.
He added: “It’s a hard time for us just now as I feel we can’t get any momentum. Even at the turn of the year we played Dalbeattie, then had a free week, then Mid Annandale, Stranraer, Abbey Vale and now a free week.
“We can’t really get a head of steam. Consistency is the big thing for us just now. We’ve shown at times throughout the season we can do it and perform well in this league. We’re just not doing it on a consistent basis and no one really knows why that is.
