RAYDALE Park will play host to Lowland League football again next season after results elsewhere confirmed safety in the division for Gretna 2008.
However, Black and Whites boss Vinnie Parker could still not hide his disappointment following his side’s 3-0 defeat away to East Stirlingshire on Saturday.
Goals from Ynyr Liddell, Ben Lamont and Mark Docherty helped the home side to a deserved win at the Falkirk Stadium in the penultimate league contest of the campaign.
Gretna did have the ball in the back of the net, but Reece Paterson was adjudged to be offside. The Anvils also had shouts for a penalty waved away.
Speaking after the match, Parker said: “When we came here at the start of the season our main target was cementing our Lowland League status, and results elsewhere have meant that, so that’s a huge positive.
“But I’m struggling to be positive after getting beat 3-0 today.
“I never saw anything wrong with Reece’s goal, it was a good delivery and a good goal. I don’t know where they got the offside for that. Then we had a really strong shout for a penalty afterwards.
“We lose a really poor goal, it’s a gift. Because, we had so much control at that point. We were on top, we had great possession and we played some good stuff.
“They were really quick on the break and they’ve made us pay.
“The scoreline is disappointing. We’ve probably not done enough to score goals and keep the ball out of the net, so we probably didn’t deserve to take anything from the game.”
This Saturday Gretna finish off their league campaign with a home tie against relegation threatened Gala Fairydean Rovers.
The Galashiels side are level on points with Broomhill at the bottom of the table and will be fighting for their lives.
But Parker is determined to finish with a victory, he added: “It’s a massive game for Gala. They’re going to throw the kitchen sink at us next Saturday.
“We need to be prepared, we don’t want to finish on a low. We want three points and we need three points.
“We’ve put a lot of hard work in this year. They (the lads) give everything and it will be nice if they can get three points.”
