East of Scotland First Division: Dunipace four clear at top after Sam Colley grabs late point against Leith Athletic

The in-form forward struck an 85th minute leveller against the visiting capital club at Westfield – who eventually finished the match with nine men – to seal a 1-1 draw for Danny Smith’s side, with that point enough to give them daylight at the summit heading into the final six matches of the league campaign.

Nearest challengers, local rivals Camelon Juniors, couldn’t take advantage of Dunipace dropping points as they lost 2-1 at St Andrews United while third-placed Newtongrange Star could only draw at Heriot-Watt University.

Looking back on salvaging a late point, Smith reckons that it may be a crucial one come the end of the season.

"We try to start games well and we did the opposite. We conceded a goal after 30-odd seconds and that gives Leith something to defend,” he said. “And to be fair to them, they did that well, and they showed us a lot of respect with how they set up.

"They put men behind the ball and tried to frustrate us. We fell into a wee trap and we didn’t look like our usual selves.

“When you go a goal down you chase the game, naturally. We eventually changed things up and even later on in the game, we huffed and puffed, but Sam Colley managed to grab a goal for us and we could have went on to win it.

"I think we maybe just left it a wee bit too late. I have no complaints and it could be an important point for us.

"The guys were of course gutted in the changing room afterwards and it felt like a defeat for them at the time, but my job is to look at the bigger picture.

"We showed a lot of character and went about our business in the right way even if we didn’t quite play our best football in that first half.

"Our home form has been nothing short of outstanding this season and this was a rare occasion for us – and that actually just shows how well we have done this season.”

Dunipace have the chance to further extend their lead at the top of the division when they host Lochore Welfare in a rearranged home match on Wednesday night when this newspaper goes to press.