With barely a minute gone, Luthermuir went ahead when Anderson got to the byeline and his cutback was finished by Iain Stuart.

Anderson nearly doubled the advantage but his shot was deflected over for a corner. Sportsman's slowly came back into the game and equalised in the 10th minute when a midfielder was given too much room and his shot from 25 yards caught Hall unawares as it dipped into the top of the net.

The visitors went ahead in 15 minutes when indecision in the Luthermuir defence allowed the ball to be cut back and although Hall got his body to the resultant shot he couldn't prevent the ball squirming over the line at the back post.

The game swung end to end for the rest of the half without any clearcut chances being created by either side.

Luthermuir had to reshuffle at half-time and top scorer Anderson had to be replaced by Robertson, but they continued to take the game to Sportsman's in search of the equaliser.

Crosses flew across goal without any takers, goalmouth scrambles failed to bounce kindly and a couple of headers from Duff flew just over as they continued to press.

Sportsmans picked Luthermuir off on the counter attack and a combination of last ditch defending and the woodwork prevented them from increasing their lead.

Iain Stuart was played in by Hamish Stuart but his shot from a tight angle rolled agonisingly past the post with the keeper beaten.

The game boiled over in 70 minutes after a succession of niggly fouls and the sending off of a Sportsman's attacker for a combination of foul play and dissent, was followed by Neil Arthur for his second bookable offence. Luthermuir continued with all out attack until the final whistle but failed to gain an equaliser.

Luthermuir deserved to take a point from an open and entertaining game but it wasn't to be and they must take the same level of effort and commitment into the remaining two games to salvage their season.

Luthermuir: Hall, Morrison, Grant, H. Stuart, Duff, Pearson, N. Arthur, Reid, Anderson (Robertson), I. Stuart, Irvine (Mason). Sub: R. Arthur.