Duncan Sinclair admits he has to be content with a hard-fought point after a 0-0 draw away to Rossvale at the weekend despite watching his side dominate.

Arthurlie were looking to bounce back after seeing their five-game winning run brought to an end in last weekend’s 2-0 loss at home to Cumbernauld with Sinclair urging them cut out the costly mistakes at the back.

Sinclair’s side started well at the Huntershill Sports Hub in Bishopbriggs, carving out their first opportunity just five minutes in when Del McNab showed good strength to burst through the defence but his tame effort was right at the keeper.

The hosts had a couple of chances themselves with Liam McGonigle looking dangerous whenever he got on the ball but it was McNab who was causing all the problems up the other end.

It was all McNab and Arthurlie in a one-sided first 45 with the forward latching on to a pin-point ball over the top from Conor Bradley before laying it into the path of Andy Barrowman, but the big striker couldn’t make the most of the opportunity as he fired wide.

Into the second-half and Jamie Docherty was introduced in place of Barrowman as Sinclair switched it up.

Docherty was linking up well with McNab and Reid as they searched for the breakthrough with the sub turning his defender before forcing Donnelly into a fine stop.

Up the other end, Niall Reynolds had to be alert in defence to snuff out a dangerous counter-attack as both sides upped the tempo.

It looked like Docherty had grabbed the decisive goal when he managed to lob it over Donnelly in the Vale goal only to see his effort stabbed away with a last-gasp clearance denying him.

Lie were made to sweat as they were reduced to 10 men after Bradley was shown a straight red for an off the ball clash but the visitors held firm to secure the point.

And while Sinclair was delighted with a much-improved defensive display against a good Vale side, it was still a case of ‘what if?’ for Lie after missing a number of chances.

He said: “It’s always a good point when you’re playing a decent team away from home but I think we should have definitely won the game. We had a few good chances in the first-half and then we have an absolutely brilliant chance when it’s cleared off the line near the end, so I would say we were unlucky.We definitely deserved more. 

“We limited them to four or five shots from outside the box, so when you look at it from that perspective, I’m disappointed we didn’t take the three points.

“On the other hand, we did well at the back. I spoke about cutting out the individual errors and I thought we were very good defensively. We’re very pleased with that side of things at the same time as being disappointed with not getting the win. At the end of the day, it’s a point that moves us in the right direction.”

Arthurlie are back at Dunterlie this weekend as they welcome struggling Kello Rovers with Sinclair insisting no signs of complacency will sneak in, adding: “The one thing we can’t do against Kello on Saturday is be complacent.”