MEADOW goalie Graeme Shepherd made a handful of stunning saves and the visitors scored a leveller in time added on to secure a share of the points.

The result keeps Meadow’s unbeaten record intact but ends their perfect record in the league following 10 straight wins.

Glenafton were first to threaten in this enthralling game when a Jamie McKernon corner-kick was headed just wide from xi yards by Strachan.

Meadow responded with a free-kick from wide on the left which forced keeper Brian McGarrity to leave his line and jump at full stretch to divert the ball from Michael Keenan stealing in at the back post.

Strachan cut in from the left and found Cammy Marlow who quickly turned to wrong-foot Keenan before lashing a low drive which was turned round the post by Shepherd at full stretch. From the resultant corner, Jamie McGeoghegan’s header fell for Alain Kinney deep in the six-yard box and he squeezed the ball between the keeper and his defenders on the line to put the Glens ahead in five minutes.

In 10 minutes Gary McCann surged down the right flank and cut deep into the box only to be foiled by McGarrity bravely diving to save at his feet. McCann’s corner was met by a glancing header from Marc Twaddle at the near post and the ball slammed home at the back post by Willie Sawyers.

Glenafton recovered quickly and with McKernon pulling the strings in the middle of the park the home side pegged Meadow deep into their own half. Back-to-back corners were cleared by the visitors’ defence with Evans in the thick of the action. At the other end Ryan McChesney cut out a wicked ball whipped into the box by Mark McLennan, with Sawyers the target, and then mopped up the resultant corner kick.

Kinney released Strachan down the left in 32 minutes and after jinking his way into the box past a sea of blue shirts he squared the ball for the incoming Kinney but the striker pulled his effort from 12 yards wide.

In 35 minutes Kinney played an exquisite one-two on the outskirts of the box with Connolly before bursting into the box and with McCann hard on his heels fired for goal from the corner of the six-yard box, only for Shepherd to make a wonderful one-handed save. The corner-kick was only partially cleared before Alan Cairns whipped the ball to the back post where Keenan beat Connolly and McChesney to the ball and Twaddle blocked Kinney’s attempt to bury the rebound.

In the closing minutes of the half Kinney rolled an inch-perfect ball down the left for Connolly to chase and cut across the face of goal and create panic in the Meadow box. First, Strachan’s effort was blocked by Twaddle sending the ball spinning to the other side of goal forcing Shepherd then to race to the corner of his six yard box and pull off a stunning save from Michael Wardrope’s powerful angled drive and finally the recovering Twaddle blocked Marlow’s attempt to net the loose ball.

Glens started brightly after the break with Wardrope picking up a Marlow pass into the box only for his angled shot to sail over Shepherd’s head and the crossbar.

Meadow were reduced to 10 men in 50 minutes after playmaker McKernon was caught by the studs of Keenan, earning the big midfielder a straight red card. Five minutes later Connolly was booked for a late tackle on Shepherd, the keeper coming out on top in the race for a long ball into the box.

On the hour a McKernon blast from outside the box appeared netbound only for Staunton to head the ball over his own bar. McChesney was inches off making a clean contact with the resultant corner-kick before this too was cleared.

Although having much less of the ball Meadow still looked dangerous on the break and Menzies did well to mop up the pieces as a move between McCann and Sawyers broke down. At the other end Cairns picked out Kinney in the box who killed the ball brilliantly with his chest and as he tried to poke the ball home from six yards Shepherd made a slight block and win Staunton enough time to clear the danger.

In 70 minutes Kinney, sandwiched between Staunton and Evans was barged to the ground by the latter as the Glens striker tried to set himself up at the edge of the six-yard box to head home Connolly’s cross. Evans escaped with a yellow card while Kinney’s spot-kick skimmed inches wide. The ball was quickly dispatched up-field and McCann missed an opportunity to rub sea-salt in the home side’s wounds.

Back on the front foot the home side pushed for a later winner only for Shepherd to pull off another two great saves – the first from a thunderous shot by Scott Adam at the edge of the box and the second a low angled drive from inside the box by Marlow. However, a minute from time the keeper could do nothing to stop a piledriver from 22 yards out , through a packed penalty box, from Wardrope.

There was to a be a sting in the tail when Meadow won a free-kick at the edge of the box deep in stoppage time. Substitute Mark Thomson’s effort appeared to take a wicked deflection of the Glenafton wall before the ball settled in the corner of the net.

IRVINE MEADOW: Shepherd; McLennan (Flood), Staunton, Evans, Twaddle; McCann, McParland (Murch), Keenan, Sideserf; Deas and Sawyers (Thomson). Sub: Pearson.