PICTURES: Nairn County 2 Deveronvale 2 - Vale manager Craig Stewart lavishes praise on super sub Jamie Tinnock's spectacular overhead kick equaliser in stoppage time at Station Park
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Scoring with an overhead kick is a thing of beauty, and strikes by Wayne Rooney, Gareth Bale and even Pele in Escape to Victory live long in the memory.
So when Deveronvale super sub Jamie Tinnock produced a such a strike to nick a point for his team at Nairn County on Saturday, it's no surprise that Vale boss Craig Stewart was delighted.
The Elgin City loan youngster only came on with seven minutes left, watched Nairn score an 89th minute goal to take a 2-1 lead then came up with his wonder strike from a corner kick in the third minute of time added on.
"It was a beauty, a real cracker," said his manager.
"If you ever want an example of perfect technique that was certainly it. It was a great strike."
Michael Cox's photos captured the last gasp equaliser perfectly, and Stewart felt it was rich reward for his team's endeavours in an entertaining contest.
Vale had missed a first half penalty, Dane Ballard's kick saved by Nairn keeper Dylan MacLean before Ballard miscued the rebound wide.
Nairn had led at that point through Scott Davidson's header and held the advantage until the break, and indeed until the closing 15 minutes of the match.
Then Ballard atoned for his spot miss by firing in a Vale equaliser, with the game seemingly edging towards a 1-1 conclusion.
But with a minute left of regulation time, Ciaran Young shot Nairn into the lead and a likely three point gain.
That was until Tinnock flipped acrobatically at a last-gasp Vale corner to net the goal of his life and land his team a hard-earned point.
"I think it would have been harsh on us if we’d got beat," said Vale boss Stewart. "A draw was probably right, we might have just shaded it but I’m sure Ronnie (Nairn manager Sharp) would say the same.
"It was quite an open game and both teams had a lot of chances. For the neutral it would have been a good game."
Stewart was surprised to see top scorer Ballard spurn his penalty chance just before half time but was pleased to see him add his fourth goal of the campaign later in the contest.
"We missed a penalty which is disappointing and even the rebound, Dane will be really disappointed with himself.
"The keeper saved the penalty and the follow-up was basically an open goal and it’s come off his heel and went by the post.
"But he made up for it with a great goal, a great move and a good cross by Matty Jamieson and he was there to finish it off.
"If that penalty goes in, it probably changes the outcome. But it wasn’t a bad performance, there were a lot of positives."
Vale had to bounce back from the disappointment of being edged out of the Aberdeenshire Cup last Wednesday, 2-1 after leading through a Jamieson goal.
Their battling draw at Nairn will give the Banff side confidence going into a home league clash with Inverurie Locos on Wednesday and a trip to Huntly next Saturday.
"Three games in a week takes its toll and maybe that was the case at nairn," Stewart added.
"Wednesday night was a hard shift and you could see a few boys leggy towards the end but to be fair they never stopped or gave up, they kept going.
"The team spirit is as good as it's been for a number of years and that is certainly helping our cause.
"Nairn scored in the 90th minute and it can knock the stuffing out of you. It’s easy to just think you’ve lost it then but we didn’t, we worked really hard for that few minutes to get something out of the game and we got our reward in the end.
"It’s a tough week but there’s no easy games. We are not going into these games short of confidence, the boys are raring to go again.
"I will probably freshen things up with the number of games because it does take its toll.
"It would be good to pick up more points in these next two games."
Stewart will have midfielder Horace Ormsby back from suspension while defender Aaron Hamilton missed the Nairn game with a knock.
"These guys will be good to go if they get their place back in the team.
"It’s refreshing to be able to look at your bench and have good options. It’s the kind of strength in depth we’re going to need throughout the season."
