St Andrews Utd 1-2 Tweedmouth
St Andrews United’s bad luck continued against the league’s bottom team.
The home players did not deserve to concede a last-minute winner scored by Tweedmouth Rangers, though.
Unfortunately, Saints’ new manger Barry Cockburn lost Lewis Goodwin before kick off and Jake Grady failed a late fitness test so two young students filled the bench.
United started the match strongly, despite the enforced changes to the starting eleven.
Ross Cunningham and Matthew Hutchison terrorised the Tweedmouth defence for 25 minutes but the lack of a decent target man meant Mark Walters in the visiting goal was rarely troubled.
Kyle Moran then watched Jay Baverstock fire a shot narrowly wide of the target before Evan Smith headed a cross from the right over the bar.
Kieran Lindsay subsequently rattled the Tweedmouth bar with a shot from the edge of the box and the game opened up as Heath made a complete mess of converting a one-on-one opportunity with only Moran to beat.
The warning signs were there for the home defence and they conceded the first goal of the afternoon in the 36th minute when Heath pounced on a slip by the trialist defender prior to slotting the ball past Moran.
United earned a penalty in the 57th minute when Baverstock handled a shot from Ross Cunningham and Fraser Anderson promptly equalised with a well-struck spot-kick.
Saints piled forward in search of a winner but Cunningham, Pannwitz and a trialist all wasted opportunities to be the heroic headline maker.
Tweedmouth made two changes to help steady the ship, whereas the home players visibly tired towards the closing stages without having further bodies on the bench.
The fans began to head for the exits in order to escape the worsening rain with a draw looking likely - yet there was a painful sting in the tail still to come.
The tiring Saints’ defence allowed a long ball to bounce in the 93rd minute and Michael Robinson found himself one-on-one with Moran before slotting the ball into the corner of the net.