Strathspey Thistle manager Charlie Brown saluted his side for coming back to take a point against Deveronvale.
Kris Duncan’s injury-time strike earned the Grantown Jags a 1-1 draw at Seafield Park.
It’s their first point since October and Brown said: “I think we maybe deserved more out of the game given our second half performance.
“We were pretty dominant and had Deveronvale on the back foot quite a bit.
“We asked for more passion and desire from the boys before the game and we got that in abundance, which is pleasing.
“After conceding on 44 minutes, we thought it was going to another one of those days.
“But the boys went out and performed even better in the second half and got the goal to get us a point.”
Strathspey hit the woodwork in the first period with a free-kick from James McShane, but they fell behind a minute before the break.
45’ | GOOOOAAAAALLLLLLL! Kyle MacKillop-Hall puts the Vale into a late first half lead!
[0-1] | 🔴⚪️ | #vale pic.twitter.com/0ujOftHuVN
— Deveronvale Football Club (@DeveronvaleFC) January 22, 2022
Kyle MacKillop-Hall capitalised on a poor clearance from goalkeeper Robbie Donaldson by finishing from 25 yards for his second goal in as many games for the Banffers.
But the home side rallied and equalised in stoppage time with Joe Cuthbert’s delivery breaking for Duncan to steer it home from close range.
Vale boss Craig Stewart said: “Kyle’s was a good finish, it would have been easy to send it over the bar but he controlled it well.
“I think Strathspey deserved a point even though we controlled the game. I don’t think we did enough to kill it off.
“When you’re in that position you always run the risk of losing or drawing and that’s exactly what happened.
“I think we controlled it in terms of possession but Strathspey pushed for the equaliser and got it.”
Lossiemouth stand firm to beat Turriff United
Lossiemouth manager Joe Russell was pleased to see his side take all three points in a hard fought 2-1 win against Turriff United at Grant Park.
The Coasters were in good shape after scoring twice after the interval with Connor Macaulay heading home a Ryan Sewell corner before Sewell himself doubled the lead when he scored direct from another corner in the 62nd minute.
Keir Smith set-up a tense finish when he halved the deficit from the penalty spot to give Turriff a lifeline but Lossie stood firm to move 10 points clear of the second bottom side.
Russell said: “It was a tough, physical game but we got over the line.
“At 2-0 we were in good shape but I had to sub Michael Weir on for Fergus Edwards and the first thing he did was give away the penalty.
“To be fair, it was a penalty and Michael held his hands up but it made for a nervy finish.
“We wasted a great chance to make it 3-1 when we blazed an effort over the bar but thankfully it didn’t matter in the end.
“We said before the game we were six points off 10th and seven points ahead of the team behind us and we knew if we won this one we could look at trying to catch the teams above us.
“There’s now three points between ourselves in 15th and Deveronvale in 10th so the aim is to try to climb the table.
“We’ve got a chance to move up again next week when we play Keith but we know it won’t be easy.”