A luckless Highlands United left Helensburgh on Saturday with no points from a possible nine, with all three grades falling in tight games.
The footballing gods appeared to be conspiring against United, particularly the first grade side, on a day in which the club just couldn't find the back of the net.
After watching their youth grade and reserve team counterparts stumble to narrow defeats, the first-grade side took the field and proceeded to dominate both possession and territory.
However, for all their hard work, United could not turn their on-field advantage into points and went down 1-0.
"I think we hit the woodwork on five occasions," said first grade player-coach Curtis Campbell. "We hit the bar and both posts a few times, but the ball just did want to cross the line.
"I'm usually a person who doesn't believe in luck beyond a team making their own. Against Helensburgh though, luck just seemed to desert us."
United eventually fell behind to a sucker-punch goal from their host and, try as they might, they couldn't manage to salvage a draw from the game.
"They hadn't really tested our keeper and then we gave away possession easily on the edge of box. The ball ended up trickling over the line after a goalmouth scramble," Campbell said.
Despite the defeat, the player-coach was content with the endeavour and application of his side.
"The boys played really well," he said. "I spoke to some of their guys after the game and they said it was the first time they had been really dominated this season. We just couldn't put away our chances."
However, Campbell was worried that his team was losing ground with league-leading Dandaloo.
"We are dropping behind a bit," he said. "My goal at the start of the season was to win the minor premiership and that is looking increasingly difficult. We will just need to take some points from the other leading teams when we play them soon."
Campbell added that Helensburgh was exactly the sort of team United seemed to drop points against.
"They're a steady, well-organised side," he said. "You could say they used spoiling tactics against us, which is fair enough. You have to do what you can to get a result."
The United defence again performed admirably, especially without the injured Will Jacobs and Richard Stone, who rolled his ankle 10 minutes into the game. Unfortunately, the sole defensive mistake for the game proved to be very costly.
"They just didn't trouble us in front of goal apart from that one occasion," Campbell said. "So to lose is pretty frustrating."
An out-of-character outburst from Jason Montanari had United's reserve grade team in trouble from the outset.
Montanari's subsequent sending off forced United to play the majority of the game with 10 men. After conceding two very early goals, from a set piece and a penalty, the Highlands boys battled valiantly but the number shortage was too difficult to overcome and the score remained 2-0.
A looping, long-range free kick was all that separated the youth team and their opponents. United created several chances and probably deserved a draw but, on an afternoon that was always going to belong to Helensburgh, wasn't to be.
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