St Cuthbert Wanderers start new season with draw against Lochmaben

St Cuthbert Wanderers kicked off the new season with a 2-2 draw against Lochmaben.

But Saints boss Paul Hilston was disappointed his side didn’t take three points.

After a goalless first half, Saints took the lead through a Watkins’ penalty.

Lochmaben equalised with their own spot-kick and then took the lead, only for McDonald to snatch a late point for Saints. Hilston said: “It was a good game and if you were a neutral you’d have enjoyed it, but it’s not good for us. It’s a game we wanted to win and we probably should have.

“I think both teams were happy with a point in the end. Our keeper was clearly fouled – he went to catch the ball, their player pushed him, he dropped it and the ref didn’t give a foul, then he’s slid in to win the ball back and given away a penalty.

“His excuse was he was fouled, but he shouldn’t have fouled him back trying to make up for it. That got them back into the game. We were pushing to get a winner and were probably higher up than we should have been. We told them to get back into their shape but they’d got it into their heads they wanted to win the game.

“They were pushing a bit further than we should have and got caught with a long ball, then we pushed and pushed and got the equaliser.”

Despite only taking a point, Hilston - overseeing his first game in charge after replacing Ian Clark – was pleased with what he saw.

He said: “It was a good performance. Last season we struggled fitness wise and were falling out of games.

“Last season we would probably go 2-1 down, not get the equaliser and concede another goal or two.”

“The goal on Saturday was in the 89th minute and you can see boys are going right to the end and they’re hungry.

“For a young team that’s a good