Arthurlie boss Duncan Sinclair insists his side didn’t deserve promotion based on their display in their 2-0 loss to Kilsyth Rangers at Dunterlie Park at the weekend.

Sitting in third spot before kick-off, a win would have kept Lie right in the mix for the promotion place while piling the pressure on Rossvale and Cumbernauld below them.

Sinclair’s side never seemed to get going, however, with the visitors dominating for large spells.

READ MORE: Arthurlie's promotion hopes dealt blow after Cumby draw

Kilsyth started brightly and continued on the front foot, seeing an early chance go begging with Owen McGoldrick gathering a rebound before firing narrowly wide.

But, taking advantage of sloppy play from Hal Bohme in midfield, the Gers made no mistake just one minute later with Drew Wingate picking it up and remaining composed to slot it beyond James Digney.

Lie on the other hand had to wait until the half hour mark for their first real glimpse of goal after Josh Payne showed some great skill to skip inside his marker before lifting his head to square it for Jamie Docherty whose effort was well blocked.

Up the other end, Kilsyth chased a second with Digney having to be alert to palm Phil Dolan’s headed effort wide. 

Ross Urquhart and James Marks made way for Del McNab and Dan McKay as Sinclair tried to freshen things up in the second-half, but any chance Arthurlie had was well and truly gone after Bohme fouled Scott Upton in the area to receive a second yellow card with Salim Koudier-Aissa sending Digney the wrong way from the spot.

Barrhead News: Arthurlie unable to finish with a flourish as Kilsyth Rangers run out 2-0 winners at Dunterlie Arthurlie unable to finish with a flourish as Kilsyth Rangers run out 2-0 winners at Dunterlie

The game, and Arthurlie’s season, petered out after that as Lie’s campaign drew to a close with Sinclair admitting his side ran out of steam.

He said: “We didn’t deserve to take anything from that match or to give ourselves a chance of promotion with that kind of display.

“We had a 25 minute spell where we looked okay but apart from that we were quite lethargic and heavy-legged.

“The boys put a lot of effort in against Cumby last week and, while we did make some chances, we just couldn’t kick-start ourselves to put up a good enough challenge.

“We were second to everything all over the park - we were stuck in third or fourth gear to be honest, not even second.

“We tried to gee them up at the break and we did play well after the restart but we struggled again after that spell and Kilsyth were deserved winners.”

The Lie gaffer, who only took over the reigns at Dunterlie last summer, wasn’t all doom and gloom, however, insisting his side will be in a much better position to mount a prolonged promotion push next season, adding: “What I’ll take away is the fact that we were there or thereabouts right down to the wire after a major rebuilding job last summer. 

“We won’t be starting from scratch this summer which is a big positive for us. We can be more picky and take our time to bring in the right players. 

“We’ll be sitting down with a lot of the players we want to stay next season to get them tied down on extensions then we’ll begin the process of talking to the players we want to add to the squad.”

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