Threave Rovers just miss out on West of Scotland League promotion

Paul McGinley believes Threave Rovers have been let down by the West of Scotland League.

The Castle Douglas side missed out on promotion to the second division after drawing with champions Lanark United 2-2 on Wednesday night.

That was a replay of a game earlier this month, which was abandoned with Threave minutes from victory after a Lanark player was seriously injured. Had Threave taken the three points, they’d have finished in the top three and won promotion, rather than missing out by two points.

McGinley, who was taking charge of the team for the last time on Wednesday night, said: “The league’s got to take a lot of responsibility and say they fell short.

“As far as I’m concerned, the boys achieved their objective. They gained promotion fair and square, it’s just a bit unfortunate they had to go back up there and play in those circumstances.

“Lanark are champions, they’re a top side and we’ve played them three times this season and beaten them home and away.”

Lanark led 2-0 at the break on Wednesday thanks to goals from Josh Payne and Graham Gracie. Stuart Douglas then got one back for Threave and when Danny Dunglinson – who will take over from McGinley as manager in the summer – equalised, the Castle Douglas side had a quarter of the game to find a winner.

McGinley added: “It would have been a tremendous result earlier in the season to go to Lanark to get a point.

“Our first half performance let us down. I don’t know if we froze, or were feeling sorry for ourselves, but it wasn’t acceptable.

“The second 45, the lads were absolutely superb. They gave it their all, got it back to 2-2 and had chances to win the game.

“It’s been a pleasure coaching them and I’ve a lot of fond memories. I have to