Stoneywood Parkvale and Ellon United fought out an entertaining McBookie.com Premier League draw at Arjo Wiggins Park, with the 3-3 scoreline seeing the visitors move up to third in the table.
Home side Stoneywood Parkvale started the brighter, but it was Ellon who took the lead in the 17th minute with a well-worked break finished superbly by Scott Gray.
United then enjoyed a good spell without adding to their tally and, with five minutes of the opening period remaining, Stoneywood’s Josh Peters turned his marker before firing home from the edge of the area to make it 1-1.
Three minutes into the second half, the home team went in front when Dean Still took advantage of a poor pass and tapped the ball home from close range.
However, Ellon equalised two minutes later from the penalty spot via Callum Tremaine.
Stoneywood Parkvale were awarded a spot-kick of their own midway through the second half after Peters had been upended, but Still saw his effort saved by keeper Stewart Gray.
Five minutes later United went in front again courtesy of a Tremaine free-kick, before the home side fought back once more – making it three-a-piece with 13 minutes left thanks to a Liam Bain header.
With six minutes left, Stoneywood had a strong claim for another penalty when Shaun Picardy appeared to be upended, but the referee waved play on and there was no further scoring.
Ellon United manager Keith McHattie felt a draw was the right outcome, saying: “A point was about right although you’re not completely happy if you haven’t won a game.
“It’s been a reasonably good season so far and hopefully that will continue. For us, it’s all about progression from the last campaign where we ended up ninth in the league and were out of all the cups in the first round.
“So far we’re on track to achieve that and I’ve got to say the committee have been really supportive since I came in.
“On Saturday, we play Maud at home in the Quest Engineering Cup and it’ll be a tough match. We had a good win against them recently and a repeat would do nicely.
“Grant Thomson has missed all season after picking up a back problem in our first pre-season friendly, while Ryan Shand is just back in training after an ankle injury, but that’s why you have a squad and everyone’s been doing their bit.”
Stoneywood Parkvale boss Ian Davidson agreed a draw was fair, saying: “It was a good game, a bit open to be honest, but we’ve played well in our last three or four games.
“We’re at Glentanar in the cup this weekend and we’re looking forward to it. We’ve enjoyed hard games against them in the past and this won’t be any different.”
Conversation