East Kilbride Thistle kid hits last-gasp winner on debut against Royal Albert

Debutant Ryan Campbell scored a last-gasp winner for East Kilbride Thistle on Saturday and boss Aaron Connolly was made up for the Showpark side’s under-20s player.

Campbell climbed off the bench and grabbed an 89th minute goal to earn a 3-2 victory over struggling Royal Albert after Ryan McDade and Michael Blues had also found the target for the hosts.

It was a crucial win in their bid to stay out of danger in the West of Scotland Third Division, as they remain 12th and three points clear of the relegation zone.

And the success was made all the sweeter for the Jags, having been without 10 players for the clash.

Connolly said: “I’m really pleased with the outcome of the game, especially given the context around it.

“We were missing 10 players through injury and some not being available – five of which would have started – so we were down to the bare bones.

“We only had 14 bodies and one of them was me – and I’m not even half-fit at the moment.

“Another was an under-20 boy who had never played for us before and actually came on and scored the winner, so I’m delighted for him.

“Ryan is a good lad. He works really hard. He hasn’t been in the picture for the first team but he’s done really well for the 20s in the last couple of weeks and with the numbers we had, I felt he deserved his opportunity.

“It all fell into place for him and, thankfully, he popped up with a massive goal in the 89th minute for us.”

Connolly added: “I thought we were really dominant in the early period and should have got ourselves ahead. Then we conceded, which seems to be a running theme for us after dominating.

“We got level at half-time and then in front, but we conceded a sloppy goal with 20 minutes to go.

“At that point you are thinking everything is going to go against us, but the boys managed to grind it out.”

Thistle now face two games in a week with the visit of 10th place Bellshill Athletic tonight followed by a trip to ninth-place Finnart on Saturday.

The Jags can leapfrog Bellshill with a victory and Connolly said: “It is nip and tuck at the bottom end of the table. Teams are taking points off each other and we just need to build on Saturday for two big games this week.

“Bellshill are a team who are in and around us, who have put a bit of form together. That will be one where we try to get something out of it.

“We should have some boys back for that one as well.”