Published: Wednesday, 29th April, 2009 12:30pm

Crowhurt"s late strike banks the points

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Renfrew 4 Annbank United 3

Renfrew produced a late recovery to beat Annbank in the wake of a gruelling midweek pile-up.

The Frew are suffering the effects of a congested fixture list as an extended injury list forced co-manager Colin Clark into a 20 minute appearance at the back.

Clark, who replaced the impressive Willie Stewart, hailed the character of his side as they took another huge step towards safety. He said: 'Three massive points for us especially after the week we"ve had. Vale of Clyde was a battle and we lost a couple of players so we"re now down to the bare bones.

'It was an inept performance in the first half but again I"d put that down to the three games we"ve had in such a short space of time.

'Port Glasgow beat us on Wednesday but they didn"t play on the Monday. They were fresher and it made the difference.

'We survived last year with 31 points and that"s what we have the now with five games left.'

The "Bankies" scored within the first minute as Renfrew struggled to get out of first gear. They were caught out again 20 minutes later when a sweeping counter attack doubled the visitors" lead.

Stewart gave the home side a life line after he chased down a Gordon Cochrane knock, sneaking in behind the defence before clipping the ball over the stranded McGarity in goal.

Annbank restored their two-goal lead after John Hammond tripped Agnew in the box for Carmichael to convert the penalty.

Clinton Maxwell pulled a goal back with a sublime free-kick with thirty minutes to go.

The Frew got their equaliser after a clever, quick free-kick from Michael Dickie released Stewart who dispatched a teasing cross for Maxwell to score his second of the game.

Annbank"s Wilson was dismissed for lashing out at Dickie before Renfrew took the lead.

Neil Shearer"s cross was headed back across goal by substitute Kevin Fraser for James Crowhurst to fire home a dramatic late winner.

Dickie was also sent off after an altercation with Annbank Manager Steph McMillan who received his marching orders for his role in the incident.

David Gordon received a second yellow for a rash tackle on the edge of the box before Dean Sexton made a vital save from the free-kick to safeguard the three points for Renfrew.

Dougie Mitchell wants his side to continue Saturday"s level of determination. He said: 'It"s great character from the players, I can"t fault their efforts. But we"re still not safe yet.

'We"re delighted with the win but we"ve still to play them again so it will be a hard shift down there especially if we"re going to need a result.

'We"re hoping to maybe have a one or two back for Kilbirnie on Monday but we"ll wait and see.'