St Cuthbert Wanderers and Mid Annandale were forced to settle for a share of the spoils on Saturday.
John Renwick put Saints in front before Mids equalised from the penalty spot.
The second half was a mirror image – Mids taking the lead with Cammy Shaw’s spot-kick securing a point – but boss Josh Gardner reckons it could have been more.
He said: “On reflection it was probably a fair result but I can’t help thinking if we had scored when we could have done, it could have been a different game.
“Our right winger, Reece McAteer, has had a really good chance to put us 1-0 up and he’s missed it. They’ve then had a good one-on-one with our goalkeeper and he’s saved. If we’d scored, they wouldn’t have got that chance and so on.
“We went 1-0 up through a corner, which was a good goal, then we have conceded a penalty. I wasn’t happy with it and the boys weren’t either.
“After the break, they managed to get in behind us and a good finish for 2-1 and then it was one-way traffic with us putting pressure on.
“We brought subs on and changed the shape. Cammy Shaw has come on, scored the penalty then had two gilt edged chances he probably should have scored and that would have been us 4-2 in front.
“We’ve nearly paid the price for it because Mid Annandale have nearly snatched it right at the end, which was a good save.
“They probably feel aggrieved they didn’t win it and we feel aggrieved we didn’t win it.
“If we’d scored the chances we created we’d have won it but I think a draw was probably pretty fair as we’ve both had chances and missed them.”
Saturday was Saints’ first competitive game since December 3 but Gardner doesn’t feel rustiness was the reason his side didn’t pick up three points, pointing out they’d had a friendly just a few days before.
He said: “We played Dalbeattie Star midweek and beat them 6-1.
“There was no rustiness in that game apart from the first 15 minutes. The finishing was really good on the night and after that I was looking forward to Saturday.
“We did play well. I think it’s just those small margins.
“Cammy should have had a hat-trick.
“When we played Newton Stewart he was the hero in that game and he was small margins away from being the hero again.
“He’d say himself he should be putting those in the back of the net.
“There’s definitely been an improvement since we came back. We played brilliantly against Dalbeattie and there was a lot of good stuff on Saturday.
“At the start of the season Mid Annandale beat us 7-1 so it shows the progression we have made.”
Unfortunately for Saints, they now have another wait for a competitive game.
They’ve been left without a fixture this weekend due to cup competitions taking priority.
Gardner said: “We’re trying to organise a friendly but our facility is in the middle of getting repairs from the burst pipes.
“It’s a wee bit annoying but it’s just the cards we’ve been dealt.”
