Johnstone Burgh and Arthurlie's Junior Cup tie hangs in balance after Dunterlie draw

Tommy Montgomery saluted the character of his Johnstone Burgh battlers after they fought back in the Renfrewshire Derby.

Hosts Arthurlie twice held the advantage in the first leg of Sunday’s Junior Cup semi-final thanks to goals from Mark Docherty and Conor Bradley.

But the Keanie Park men responded both times at Dunterlie through Kyle Lafferty’s penalty and a Dale Simeon strike to make it 2-2.

The teams will do it all again on Saturday night in Johnstone to decide who will face Darvel or Auchinleck Talbot in the final.

And interim Burgh boss Monty, pictured, is satisfied with the current state of play ahead of the second leg.

“I think the game went the way you would expect,” he said. “When you have a two-legged affair, the first game tends to be a bit cagey.

“We’re disappointed in the goals that we lost but each time we went behind, they were prepared to fight back so I’m pleased with the character of my team.

“We’ve got an experienced team but in the first 20 minutes we looked nervy and I thought we struggled with the wind.

“Arthurlie adapted to the conditions much better. At half-time, we were level and told the players to push on but be a wee bit canny with it.

“They scored a good goal and sometimes in these games it is a wee bit of individual brilliance that does it for you. But our two subs combined and gave us a wee jag to get it back to 2-2.”

Montgomery feels his squad will be sharper for the second leg and that both sides will be confident of progressing.

“It got a wee bit more time in the legs for those coming back from injury and they’ll be ready to go next week,” he added. “But overall, it is still all to play for and we’re looking forward to the second leg.

“I don’t think anything has been decided yet and both teams will fancy their chances.”

Meanwhile, Arthurlie boss Colin Reilly felt his side rose to the occasion by focusing on the game and not getting caught up with derby-day fever.

“Ultimately, we’ve got to be a bit disappointed not to go away with the lead but obviously we’re happy with the level of performance. We go there next week still in the tie and that’s what it was all about.

“The key message was to play the game and not the occasion and I think we done that. We played our game really well.

“We had to start well. It was about showing them that bit of respect but also taking the game to them and impressing our game on them. We did that for long spells of the game and I thought we were unlucky with the penalty [which made it 1-1] but that’s football, isn’t it?

“The equaliser [for 2-2] is a wee bit hard to take as we were dominating the game and I felt we were on top but we have to be able to overcome that.”

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