EAST KILBRIDE hero Matt McGinley hoped his late penalty save could yet prove vital to the Lowland League champions’ dream of moving up into the senior set-up. Kilby were furious when defender Fabio Capuano was adjudged to have handled in the box late in the first leg of their pyramid play-off tie against Cowdenbeath.

McGinley, though, got his team-mate out of a hole by making a stunning save from Kyle Miller’s penalty to bolster East Kilbride’s chances of promotion. The sides will do it again in the second leg at Cowdenbreath’s Central Park on Saturday and McGinley is feeling confident as Kilby look to become the first team from the west of Scotland to enter the league set-up for more than 50 years.

“It was a big save,” said the goalkeeper. “Obviously it’s a different game if it finishes 1-0 so that keeps the tie alive. It makes it a one-off game next week and we can go into it with confidence.

“I thought it was a very tight, close game. I felt we had the better chances although maybe it would have been harsh on either team to lose.

“I didn’t think it was a penalty. It looked like Fabio was trying to stoop down to head it and the boy came right through the back of him. I thought it should have been a foul to us but the ref has given the penalty. Thankfully I’ve been able to keep it out.

“We practised penalties last week before the second leg of the Buckie game. You just pick a side, throw yourself at it and thankfully this time I managed to get two strong points. Barry Russell had been studying some of their previous penalties so we had a fair idea of what was going to happen.

“The first goal will be so vital next week so hopefully it’s us who gets it and progresses. We’ve already won there this season so that should give us an extra degree of confidence going back again. It will obviously be a totally different game but we’ve had that winning feeling there before so I don’t see why we can’t go there and do it again.”

It has been a long and demanding season for Kilby who had to beat Highland League champions Buckie to set up the winner-takes-all showdown with Gary Locke’s Cowdenbeath who finished bottom of League 2. But McGinley was not complaining.

He added: “It’s a big ask at the end of a long season but you get through it as this is where you want to be. This was our goal from the start of the season. So we’ve got no complaints about the schedule as we knew what we were signing up for. The boys are buzzing about the prospect of getting through it.

“It would be an amazing achievement if we could go up into the league and we’ve definitely got the set-up for it here. That’s what we’ve wanted for the last few years and now we’re one game away from it.”

Miller, Cowdenbeath’s longest-serving player, admitted he was devastated at failing to score from 12 yards.

He said: “I am gutted, absolutely gutted. I had the chance to win it but it is not the end of the world as we have the chance to win it next weekend. We should beat them back at our place.

“But to have the chance to win it right at the very end with a penalty and not do it is annoying. You should be doing that, you should be scoring penalties every time. I do not feel great at all but have to go again next week.

“It is hurting me a bit more than it is hurting everyone else. I have played up in the Championship with Cowdenbeath and it is hurting me to even be in this play-off never mind anything else.”