Inverurie Locos draw in away trip against Forres after taking early lead
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
"Frustrating" was the key word for manager Richie Hastings after Inverurie Loco Works' 1-1 draw at Forres Mechanics on Saturday.
Locos took an eighth minute lead at Mosset Park thanks to Lloyd Robertson's strike, but the Can-Cans levelled the scores seven minutes into the second half through Ethan Cairns.
Hastings was disgruntled after the match, believing his side had done enough to collect all three points.
"We created enough chances to win the game, so we are disappointed once again," he said.
"It would be a different story if you are not creating anything, then you can maybe say a point on the road is good – but it's not.
"We have created enough chances to win the game. That's not to say we didn't have to make a few saves ourselves, I get that, but if both teams take their chances then we still win the game.
"It's frustrating because this is not the first week this has happened. It seems to be a common theme. That's the hard thing to take. It wasn't our best performance but we did enough to win."
Inverurie took the lead inside eight minutes when Jack Grant got a low cross caught under his feet and Lloyd Robertson stole in and sidefooted home from eight yards.
Mechanics keeper Stuart Knight had to watch Robert Ward's deflected effort and tip it over the bar on 17 minutes at the end of a lively opening quarter of an hour.
Ben Barron could, and perhaps should, have levelled when played through one-on-one 10 minutes before half-time but got the ball caught in his feet before seeing his goal-bound effort cleared off the line by Greg Mitchell.
A corner just a minute later saw Barron have another effort cleared off the line, before Ryan MacLeman's left-footed effort flew across the face of goal and wide by an inch before the break.
Ethan Cairns went close with a clever turn and shot on 51 minutes – before netting the equaliser a minute later when he broke through one-on-one and, despite a heavy touch, rounded keeper Andy Reid to slot home.
Locos had a big chance to take the lead after the hour mark when Robertson was denied Knight before a stramash ensued, which resulted in the same man heading over from close range.
Robertson was at the centre of a lot and fired an inch wide on 73 minutes after being played in by Garry Wood.
The game was swinging end to end as Barron saw a headed effort denied by a one-handed save from Reid.
The last chance of the game fell to Locos as Knight made a big save, denying Wood with his knee when the big striker was played through on goal a minute into added time.
Locos travel to Formartine on Saturday, looking to leapfrog their Aberdeenshire rivals.
Hastings added: "We've got to dust ourselves down. We're not a team that's not creating things, so it's a case of keeping on doing what we are doing.
"Our form has been decent, in terms of our play, it's just that end product.
"The boys have been putting in decent performances, they are a great group of lads, the endeavour is there and it must be equally as frustrating for them."
