Published: Thursday, 18th December, 2008 8:30am

Life is a rollercoaster

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To describe football as a rollercoaster of emotions would be an understatement. Last Saturday we visited Dumbarton for our first game in almost a month and duly got stuffed 3-0. It was a huge disappointment, especially for me personally as I never played well and missed a couple of good chances that could have got us back in the game when were on top.

The second of those came when we were 1-0. We went in at the break behind but in the second half had come out with the bit between our teeth and were applying a bit of pressure.

A cross to the back post was headed behind me and from six yards I swivelled and blasted it straight over the bar when I should have done better, kept it down and hit the target.

To make matters worse five minutes later Dumbarton had made it 2-0 and eventually got a third. In those situations there is nothing anybody can say. You are left with the feeling of letting your team mates, manager and everyone at the club down because of that miss and it can eat away at you.

The only way to get over it is to get back out on the pitch for the next game and try to make amends. Luckily we had our second game in two days with the much postponed Scottish Cup tie against Stranraer on the Monday night.

Again I missed a couple of chances and it felt like the team were never going to score to match our superiority, first in play, then in numbers when Stranraer had two men sent off.

In the last ten minutes a great cross from Kevin Gordon found me in space and I was able to head it into the corner of the net for a feeling that brought as much relief as joy. Sean Kilgannon added a calmly taken second to kill the match.

We deserved the goals but our play had become increasingly scrappy as the game went on as we struggled to score.

It was a shame for Stranraer too for the club are obviously struggling and a good cup run would have brought them some much needed revenue.

It felt good to give something back after missing such a good chance the game before. The joy in the end was not in scoring but in the feelings shared between myself and the whole team in the dressing room after the game knowing we were through to the next round of the cup.