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A LATE wonder goal from skipper Mitch Megginson gave us a share of the spoils in our League One clash with Partick Thistle in Glasgow.

The fact we left Firhill Stadium disappointed not to have taken all three points is a measure of how far we have come as club over the last few years.

But a draw was still a magnificent result after more than 10 and a half weeks without a game of any sort – and having to return to action away from home against full-time opponents.

We dominated possession and play for long spells and were hard done by to find ourselves falling behind to a strike from Partick substitute Joe Cardle with 20 minutes to go.

All credit to the lads though for never losing the belief that they could come back.

And we did so in style when club captain Megginson left a trail of defenders in his wake on the way to claiming the equaliser with just eight minutes left on the clock.

He would have got the winner too were it not for a brilliant late save from home keeper Kieran Wright.

Ryan Strachan also deserves praise for a goal-saving clearance in the latter stages in what was outstanding team display that keeps us up among the pack of sides pushing for promotion.

Defensive duo Harry Milne and Scott Ross missed out through injury, which opened the door for Cammy Logan, who is on loan to us from Hearts, to make his debut.

Partick had an early chance when James Penrice sent a corner over from the left to Darren Brownlie, who directed his 10-yard header wide of the far post.

Connor Murray also hit a low 18-yard effort well wide of Stuart McKenzie’s left post for the home side.

Young Logan was working hard to restrict the impact of the lively Penrice and highlighted that with an excellent tackle on the midfielder just inside our area in the19th minute.

From that point on we were by far the more impressive side – gaining inspiration from the fine defending of  Strachan and Ross Graham, who was the best player on the park.

Our first real chance came when Megginson blocked the ball in midfield and passed it to Leighton McIntosh, who in turn fed it out to Blair Yule, who was wide on the right.

Yule passed the ball back inside to Fraser Fyvie and a Jags defender did well to block the midfielder’s shot from the edge of the area.

McIntosh seemed justified to feel upset with referee Steven Reid when he was penalised for the softest of fouls after managing to cut in from the left to set up a shooting opportunity a couple of minutes later.

We kept up the pressure, with Yule’s excellent cross from the right just evading McIntosh close to the Partick penalty spot.

Partick managed to threaten a couple of times just before the interval.

Ross MacIvor tried his luck from 18-yards but the effort flew well wide.

Penrith also had a chance with a 19-yard free-kick but McKenzie’s defensive wall was perfectly placed to block the effort.

Partick had a decent chance in the 50th minute when Brian Graham crossed from the left to Shea Gordon but he failed to find the target with a poor 14-yard header.

We responded with Fyvie sending a free-kick into the Partick area and Brownlie just managed to nod the ball away from Ross Graham deep inside the six yard box.

Partick got lucky in the 61st minute.

Jamie Masson managed to beat home keeper Kieran Wright with a curling effort from just inside the left side of the home area but Foster managed to get back to nod the ball clear from the goal-line.

We were very unfortunate again in the 65th minute.

Megginson crossed from the right and Masson saw his close range shot blocked for a corner by a last gasp tackle from Gordon.

Megginson then lashed shot into the side netting from a tight angle on the left as we maintained the pressure on the home defence.

Penrice’s cross from the left reached substitute CARDLE and he managed to find the space to squeeze a low 14-yard shot just inside McKenzie’s left post.

We made a trio of substitutions in the 76th minute, with Rory McAllister, Broque Watson and Connor Smith all coming on.

Home defender Niang missed a glorious chance to make it 2-0 with just 10 minutes to go when he lashed the ball over the bar from eight yards with the goal gaping.

It proved a costly miss when MEGGINSON equalised just two minutes later with as good an individual goal as you are likely to see anywhere in the remainder of the season.

The striker collected a through pass from Fyvie and was then as cool as ice as he skipped past three Partick defenders while advancing into the home area.

Megginson capped things off by precisely placing the ball beyond the reach of the diving Wright from 15-yards.

Strachan stopped Partick pinching the lead again three minutes later when he got back to head Cardle’s net-bound shot wide for a corner.

Wright denied us victory a minute later when he beat away Megginson’s 15-yard shot as we finished the game looking by far the fresher side.

PARTICK THISTLE: Wright, Penrice, Brownlie, Brannigan, Graham, Gordon, McKenna, Murray, (Cardle 63), Niang, Foster, MacIver (Erskine 70).

Subs: Bell, Devine, Ocholi, Lyon, Rodden, Geggan, Sneddon.

COVE RANGERS: McKenzie, Scully (Watson 76), Strachan, Yule, Megginson, Masson, McIntosh, (McAllister 76), Livingstone, Graham, Fyvie, Logan (Smith 76).

Subs: Seb Ross, Higgins, Demus.

Referee: Steven Reid.

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