Colts 1 Spartans 1: Cumbernauld snatch draw after '˜no goal' row

Sean Brown claims in vain that his header is over the Spartans line (pic by Alex Miller)

But the main taking point was a controversial decision to disallow a Colts ‘goal’ with the home side claiming the ball was over the line.

Colts started brightly but the visitors broke the deadlock in eight minutes when David Greenhill cut in from the right and was given too much space on the edge of the box before rifling an angled drive past Chris Fahey from 20 yards.

Spartans almost doubled their advantage in 13 minutes when the ball broke to visiting captain McFarland who sent a rasping drive narrowly over the bar with Fahey at full stretch.

But the Spartans skipper was soon to play no further part in the game after he was shown a straight red card for a shocking tackle on Craig Murray.

The sending off gave Colts the lift they needed and it wasn’t long before both O’Neill and Jordan Marshall went close from distance.

However, the visitors started the second half brightly and almost extended their lead in 49 minutes when Jamie Dishington broke into the box but Fahey blocked well from his low effort.

This was to be as close as Spartans came to doubling their advantage and as the second half progressed Colts began to grow stronger as they searched for an equaliser.

And Colts thought they had drawn level in 70 minutes when Sean Brown got onto the end of a deep corner before sending a header towards goal which crashed down off the underside of the bar and appeared to cross the line.

The far side linesman initially flagged for a goal but then changed his mind, and after consultation with the referee the goal wasn’t given, much to the astonishment of the Colts players and fans alike.

This riled Colts who were now determined to take something from the game and Brown went agonisingly close again in 78 minutes but the young striker couldn’t turn Craig Holmes’s low cross into the net with the goal at his mercy.

However there was to be late drama as Colts luck turned in injury time when substitute Andy Selkirk was pushed by Adam Corbett just inside the box and the referee pointed to the spot.

Colts talisman O’Neill made no mistake from the spot as he coolly sent Spartans keeper Andrew Stobie the wrong way to snatch a point for the Cumbernauld men with almost the last kick of the game.