Strathspey Thistle were well worth a point as they played 70 minutes of this thoroughly entertaining Speyside Highland League derby with only 10 men.
Rothes manager Paul Lamberton certainly did not deny the Grantown men a draw after their efforts.
He said: “In the last few minutes we were actually hanging on, so we have to give them credit as they played really well in the second half especially with 10 men.
“The same happened when we faced Buckie Thistle recently.
“They also went down to 10 men and on both occasions we played better against 11.
“Having said that Callum McIntosh missed an open goal.
“If he had put that one in the game was dead and buried at 2-0 and in the first half veteran Jags goalkeeper Stevie Dunn brought off two or three great saves to deny us the opener.”
Jags manager Brian Grant said: “Having played 70 minutes with only 10-men we have got to be happy with a point, although on the end we could possibly have stolen all three as Josh Peters put a ball across the box to Connor Aubrey but unfortunately he just couldn’t get to it.
“In the second half, even with 10 men, I felt we were far the better side and Thomas Borthwick scored a deserved equaliser with a great shot from the edge of the box with just four minutes left.”
In the 20th minute Jags’ Stuart Patience was somewhat harshly shown a straight red card by referee Alex Shepherd for what was deemed a dangerously high boot.
Rothes looked to have secured the points with a fine strike from Nathan Wilson 10 minutes after the break but with just four minutes remaining Borthwick’s fierce 18-yard drive earned the visitors a deserved point.