It's pointless for grafting Gow as Hill finally fire in

But it would be perfectly understandable if this morning Downsy reconsidered his view, after a seemingly hard-fought share of the spoils was dramatically transformed into what may yet prove to be a precious points haul.

Despite the first-half stretchering off of defence anchor Gerard Bonham with what seemed a bad injury, visiting Gow bravely fought to keep a clean sheet, but they conceded a controversial 89th-minute goal to Bellshill hitman Andy Selkirk.

The contentious part started with Bellshill stopper Sinky Soutar's tackle that felled Gow front man Johnny Logan inside the penalty area. The striker and his team-mates loudly voiced spot-kick claims to ref Willie Cowie.

But Bellshill played to the whistle and full-back Max McKee's clearance upfield found ex-Clydebank hitman Selkirk finding a gap in the visiting defence. He chested the ball down before rifling a low shot beyond Gow keeper Derek Barnes and into the corner of the net for a 1-0 win.

It was a moment to savour for Selkirk and his delight was obvious, but the celebratory gesture of whipping off his shirt incurred the wrath of Cowie, who issued the striker's second yellow card of the afternoon - he was booked in the Bonham incident - and despatched him to the Fullarton Park dressing rooms.

"We didn't do enough to win the game but neither did we deserve to lose it," said Gow manager Robert Irving of a turgid affair between two of the top title contenders.

He added: "It's bitterly disappointing to lose so late in the day and I would have to say my players lost their concentration at the penalty-kick incident.

"I spoke to the referee afterwards and he said there was contact but not enough to deem it a spot-kick, which doesn't exactly clarify matters. However the upshot is we took our eye of the ball and Selkirk punished us.

"He made the tackle but nobody at this club holds him accountable for Gerry's injury and it says a lot for the lad that he made the decent gesture of coming in after the game to apologise.

"Initially we felt Gerry's ankle was broken but the impact has caused a twist in his knee and the hope is nothing else is amiss - Gerry is just back after two years out with cruciate ligament damage."

Lesmahagow's lively front pairing of Logan and Jack Taylor provided plenty of tricky first-half moments for a Bellshill side that enjoyed the greater part of the attacking. The visiting backline held and the closest thing to a goal was a Selkirk 22-yarder that slid inches wide.

The loss of their own stopper Darren Ferguson to a calf-muscle problem within ­minutes of the restart almost proved calamitous for Bellshill as the man he marked at set plays - towering full-back David McCauliffe - rose above keeper Zander Cowie at a corner but put his point-blank header over the crossbar.

The escape led to more concerted Bellshill pressure but genuine scoring chances were passed up by substitute Chris Dolan, Ryan Connolly and another replacement, Jay Mackay, so a draw looked on the cards until their late flourish.

The win puts daylight between Bellshill and the chasing pack and delighted Downsy but he would not paper over his players' shortcomings.

"We could and should have scored long before we did but for a total lack of composure in front of goal.

"Lesmahagow are one of the best sides to visit here this season. They boasting some really good players going forward and combined with our wasteful finishing had me willing to settle for a point long before the end, but thankfully Andy came up trumps."

Taking advantage of the Gow's slip to join them in joint second are Dunipace, for whom Andy Hunter, Mark Bachelor and Craig Reid scored in a 3-1 defeat of Renfrew.

But causing all the leading lights to look over their shoulders are Blantyre Vics, who staged a comeback victory to beat Carluke Rovers 3-2 at the John Cummings Stadium through a double from Davie Kirkwood and one from Craig Smith.