Rutherglen Glencairn did well but should have beat Whitletts Vics by more, says boss

Joe Pryce admits his Rutherglen Glencairn side showed resilience to beat Whitletts Vics 3-1 in the West of Scotland First Division on Saturday – even if they should have been out of sight by the interval.

Visiting keeper Louis Kerr made a string of top saves to keep the score down, but even with that, Kyle Chrystal headed Glens into the lead, with a Ryan McManus penalty doubling that lead shortly before the interval, after Roan Fitzpatrick had rattled the bar.

Whitletts Vics halved the deficit with a stoppage-time penalty scored by Robbie McCracken, and came out with their tails up after the interval, with Jason Walker hitting the base of a post.

Kerr was the star again, making two deft saves, before McManus drilled in a third to make sure of the win.

Pryce says his side were the better side by a distance in the first half, but had to dig deep to keep three points at the Hamish B. Allan Stadium.

He said: “It was a good victory for us on Saturday. We played very well in the first half and probably deserved to be further ahead, going into the break.

“Scoring late on with the penalty, and virtually with the last kick of the ball we give the goal away, so we were only one up, going into the break and our all-round play deserved a wee bit more.

“Again, we spoke to them at half-time, sat them down, calmed them down, and just asked them to go out in the second half and continue their good work.

“To be fair to Whitletts, they got a lift with the goal just before half-time and they were the better team for the first 10-15 minutes of the second half.

“We had to show a bit of resilience just to hang on and make sure we didn’t concede.

“Once we did that we managed to get a wee foot-hold in the game, took control, and we ran out