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There was late drama at Harlaw Park as Locos were defeated by an injury time penalty. Having come from two goals down, it looked like the spoils would be shared before former Railwayman Sam Robertson netted from the spot after debutant Brendan Hamilton was adjudged to have fouled Brodie Allen.
Hamilton, who arrived on loan from Aberdeen this week, went straight into the team and youngster Reuben Skea was also handed a starting place having featured regularly from the bench this season and been scoring freely for the development teams.
Locos had the first opening. Aidan Wilson got up highest to meet Daniel Agnew’s cross from the right but could only glance his header wide. Louis Amann then had to be alert to keep out Callum Murray’s back post header.
Callum Duncan was next to try his luck but his curled effort from outside the box was just too high. Shortly after the half hour the visitors took the lead through Robertson, who left Harlaw Park for Huntly in the summer. He was found in the penalty area by Angus Grant and finished smartly past Amann.
Hamilton went close to a leveller early in the second half but it was Huntly who extended their lead on 56 minutes. Grant got onto the end of a forward pass before turning and firing low into the net.
It was an uphill struggle now for Locos who, despite dominating the ball, hadn’t asked enough questions of the Huntly back line. With the fresh legs of Cole Anderson and Nathan Meres though, they began to look more dangerous and got back into the game with 20 minutes remaining. Hamilton’s free kick was met by Milosz Ochmanski at the far post. Calum Brodie saved his effort but when the ball came back to him, Ochmanski found Mark Souter who smashed home.
Locos had their tails up and went looking for an equaliser. It came from the penalty spot after James Connolly had impeded Souter and Paul Coutts made no mistake to net his fourth goal of the season.
At that point it felt like any winner would come from Locos although a draw seemed a fair reflection of the game. There was a late twist though, as referee Owen Lawrence evened up the penalty count, much to Locos’ dismay.
After a slow start, Locos will feel they did enough to take something from this game but were once again left to rue the lack of a clinical edge in the final third. Despite the result, Dean Donaldson found positives from the performance “The boys played some really good football” he said. “First half probably a little bit slow with the tempo. The second half we really upped the tempo. I was pleased with how they played, we were just lacking in the final third.”
Locos travel to Glebe Park next week to take on league leaders Brechin City in the Highland League Cup.
