Hamish Ritchie was pleased to get off the mark for Peterhead – but frustrated it didn’t lead to victory against Forfar Athletic.
The midfielder – who is on loan from Inverurie Locos for the rest of the season – fired the Blue Toon in front at Station Park on Tuesday night.
But having missed a number of opportunities, including a Steven Boyd penalty, the Buchan outfit were made to pay for their profligacy when Martin Scott equalised late on for the Loons.
Reflecting on his goal and the result Ritchie, who has made four appearances since joining Peterhead last month, said: “It was good to get a goal because I haven’t scored for a while.
“It just fell for me nicely, it was a great ball in by Ryan Conroy and with the wind I just tried to keep it low and thankfully it went in so I was delighted with that.
“But it would have been even better if we’d been able to win the game.
“That’s just what can happen in football, you dominate the whole game and then concede in the last five minutes.
“But I think we should be pleased with how we performed, we can’t really complain about how we performed.”
Pleasing performance without getting maximum points
Peterhead dominated against struggling Forfar and Ritchie says they should be pleased how they performed, even if they didn’t leave Station Park with three points.
The Blue Toon return to action on Saturday when they meet Partick Thistle at Balmoor.
The 23-year-old added: “I think we were the better team against Forfar. I think they only had one shot on target.
“And we had a lot of chances and we played well and we were a bit unlucky with how it ended.
“If we can play like that again then we will pick up wins.
“We looked good against Forfar, but it’s important to pick up points and we’ve got to look ahead now and try to do that in the next game.
“We play Partick now, who were a Premiership side only a couple of years ago and they will be another tough game.”
Ritchie is enjoying his loan stint with Peterhead and has turned in a number of impressive displays for Jim McInally’s side.
The player, who returned to Scotland last summer after four years in America at university, said: “The manager, Davie (Nicholls, assistant manager) and all the boys have been great with me in terms of encouraging me and helping me.
“They’ve all played at a higher level, so I’m just trying to take it all on board and I’m really enjoying it.”
McInally impressed
Manager McInally has been pleased with Ritchie’s contribution since arriving at Balmoor.
He said: “Our fitness coach Stuart Hogg gets all the data from our games and he was telling me Hamish’s statistics against Forfar were fantastic.
“The first time I saw him play I could see he was a natural footballer.
“He receives the ball really well and has two good feet, which is one of the best things you can have as a footballer.
“He’s got good balance and he’s just a good player. We’re maybe not sure of his best position, but that’s partly because he can just float about – but he also works very hard for the team.
“All in all he’s been a very good signing.”