McHugh: I thought I’d earned us a deserved draw

Bob McHugh thought he had rescued a point when he came off the bench to equalise against Dundee United on Saturday and believes a draw would have been a fair outcome.

Ultimately, his close-range conversion would count for nothing after Arabs striker Scott McDonald grabbed a late winner, but the 26-year-old insisted there were positives to be drawn from the performance in spite of the outcome.

When asked if he thought his goal had earned his side a share of the spoils, McHugh said:

“Aye, I did. I felt we were going to hold on for the point, I must admit. I think there were goals there for us today and we were unlucky only to score the one.

“At the same time, they will probably be saying the same thing as well, so I think a draw probably would have been a fair result.

“The boys played really well for long spells of the game and we’re really disappointed we’ve come away with no points.

“But there were a few positives in that game today that we can hopefully take out and into next week.”

The strike was the hitman’s fifth goal in nine starts and three sub appearances, edging him in front of Robert Thomson at the top of the club’s scoring charts. On getting on the scoresheet, he said:

“Obviously every goal you get, you’re delighted with, but I would have swapped that for the three points, definitely.

“I was unlucky not to start today, so coming off the bench and getting a wee goal is, for me personally, is good. But the points were more important.”

The Ton saw an injury-time penalty claim turned down when Thomson’s header was blocked by a Dundee United arm, and like manager Jim Duffy, McHugh did not have a great view of the incident:

“To be honest, I was more concerned with my own movement at the time. I heard a lot of shouts and it looked as if it could have come off his arm.

“I also missed the initial reaction of what was said in the dressing room after the game because I was chosen to do a drugs test.

“And I’ve not seen it back, so I’m not really going to comment – but it would be interesting to see it.”

Image: David Bell