10-man St. Duthus finished up with a point for their efforts at the end of a tightly contested match against third placed Golspie in the Macleod & MacCallum North Caledonian League.

An absent hit Saints led to opportunities being handed to Will Ross, Billy Cairns and new signing Caillean Eaglesham who all came into the starting lineup. Daniel Christie also came back into the side. The returning Lewis Smith, who is recovering from injury, took a place on the bench.

Shaun Urquhart was first to offer a test for either side inside four minutes, putting John Allan under pressure with a shot from the edge of the box. The Saints keeper needed to be quick to gather with two strikers in pursuit of the second ball.

Golspie kept the pressure up in the early going and connecting with a layoff from Miller Mackay, player-manager Sam Mackay made a hash of a clear cut chance inside the six yard box. A Mackay free kick shortly after was also off target, put just wide of Allan's post.

An injury to Caillean Eaglesham forced the Tain side into an early change with Kyle Mackenzie coming on after just 23 minutes.

On the approach to the half hour mark, Cammy Yuill in the Golspie goal had to react quickly to prevent Billy Cairns from opening the scoring for St. Duthus after he pounced on a loose passback from Danny Coghill.

The opening goal arrived on 34 minutes and it was for St. Duthus. After some good work from James Mackay breaking down the left side, the ball was cleared only as far as Daniel Christie 30 yards from goal. Taking a moment, Christie unleashed an audacious drive which bounced just in front of Yuill and spun under his grasp and through his legs. A shocker for the goalkeeper, but a well hit shot from Christie.

Kyle Mackenzie was unlucky not to make more of a mistake by Yuill who had taken the ball out to the edge of his area only to be dispossesed, but his blushes were saved by his defence.

Emerging from the half time break, Golspie took the initiative and within seven minutes they had levelled the scoring. A corner to the near post was played back into the path of Cameron Sutherland who played a neat cross into the area for Sean Munro to head into the net. 

The game grew in intensity as it wore on, and both Christie, Cairns and John Skinner collected cautions for their trouble. Mackay was also booked for the visitors.

A second yellow card for Christie reduced Saints to ten men for the remaining quarter hour of the game, the full back shown his marching orders for a rash challenge. 

Golspie pressed for a winner as Saints defended resolutely, with Allan holding chances from Sutherland and Mackay. Urquhart too, had a great chance, and thought he had the ball in the net but the referee had flagged for offside.

Despite the man disadvantage, Saints were still on the hunt for a winner and after clever feet from Mackenzie, Finn As-Chainey passed up a glorious chance to score with five minutes left, diving to head just a fraction wide of the post.

The game ended in a stalemate at 1-1 with ten man Saints putting another point on the board. The result also keeps Geegan's men going on their unbeaten run, which now extends to eight games.