It was a case of deja vu for relegation-threatened Raith Rovers on Saturday as they were denied another legitimate winner by an offside flag.
The Kirkcaldy men had battled back to level through a Paul Paton own goal on 74 minutes it was created by Rovers striker Brian Graham after Sean Welsh had given Partick Thistle the lead 10 minutes earlier.
Then, with time ticking by, midfielder Grant Murray nodded into the net to score what looked like a dramatic and decisive late goal for the visitors. However, as the noisy away support celebrated, up popped assistant referee Ross McIntyre’s arm to rule it out.
Murray and his teammates were left bemused and it brought back memories of Dens Park on March 24 when Jonathan Stewart’s late ”winner” against Dundee was chalked off for the same reason, only for video footage to later show it to be a perfectly good goal.
A likely reason for the flag was it was meant for Graham who, although appearing to be just onside as well, was the further forward of the two Rovers players. Murray was certainly in no doubt that his counter should have counted.
”It was definitely a goal,” he said. ”I thought I had managed to get myself a winner there but the linesman has judged it to be offside.
”I don’t think I was offside because the guy who was marking me was goalside of me. I don’t know if he (the assistant) has seen someone else and raised his flag.
”Some decisions go for you and other go against you but we could have done with it at this stage of the season. Had we scored then we would probably have held on for the three points.”
After being second-best to the Jags for most of the match, Rovers finished the stronger and had another golden opportunity right at the death when sub John Baird’s shot was pushed on to the post.
The point was still enough to keep them at the top of their mini-league at the bottom of Division One, although Ayr’s win at Livingston moved them level on points with Raith and Queen of the South got a decent draw against Falkirk and still sit just three behind the others in bottom spot.
Next up for Murray and co is a trip to the Falkirk Stadium on Saturday, followed by the proverbial six-pointer at home to Queens the following weekend and then the grand finale against Morton at Cappielow on May 5.
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Looking ahead, Murray said: ”I have a role and responsibility as captain to make sure the players up for it and we will have to take care of the remaining games and make sure we get enough points to stay in this league.
”We are away to Falkirk on Saturday, a place where we have done well in the past, and we are fully focused now on getting the win through there.”
Rovers boss John McGlynn, meanwhile, joined Murray in claiming that the goal-that-never-was should have been the goal-that-was.
”We might have gotten three points and the lads are disappointed because they think the goal was onside,” said McGlynn.
”Then we had John hit the post and these wee breaks can make all the difference in the end.
”Taking three points away from Firhill would have been massive but, over the piece, Partick played fairly well and at 1-0 it looked a long way back for us.
”We showed good spirit and character to bounce back and we keep doing that.
”We have come back so many times in games now, apart from the Livingston one which is the only one recently where we have been well beaten.
”But it wasn’t in the game plan to wait until Partick scored to start to play, nor was it our plan to sit in. Sometimes your opponents will force you back but you saw us push for a winner after we equalised.”
Saturday’s results did nothing to change McGlynn’s opinion that the relegation race will go to the wire.
”It is very, very tight and it looks like it is going to go to the last game of the season,” he added. ”We have to stay mentally strong, keep the lads positive and keep battling away just as we did out there.”
As for Thistle boss Jackie McNamara, he could be pleased with his side’s general play but was understandably unhappy with the loss of the own goal.
”The game is all about learning and we need to learn from the goal we lost,” he said.