THREAVE Rovers boss Paul McGinley failed to steer his new team from the bottom of the Lowland League despite a second-half fightback at Broadwood.
Cumbernauld Colts, who moved up to fourth with the win, raced into a two goal lead through Stephen O’Neil and James Barclay.
Ben Irvine pulled a goal back for the bottom side with 20 minutes to go and almost grabbed a late equaliser.
McGinley, who was only appointed as the Meadow Park manager on Thursday, said: “We were much better after the break and we could have had taken something from the game.
“Cumbernauld stretched us at times but I thought we did well to cope with their pace.
“There’s a lot for us to work on but we can get ourselves away from the bottom.”
An injury time strike from Juan Belope gave Preston Athletic all three points at Dalbeattie Star.
Joshua McGonigal edged Colin Jack’s team in front midway through the first half before Lewis Sloan equalised for Star five minutes later.
A Joe Aitken second-half double earned Edinburgh University the points against in-form Gretna at Peffermill.
In the Qualifying Cup a Taylor Hope strike helped Gala Fairydean Rovers make history against Stirling University to reach the quarter finals.
Manager Steven Noble was delighted with the 1-0 win over Stirling University. He said: “That’s the first time we have ever beaten Stirling Uni.
“They are a quality team and it took a tremendous strike from Taylor to get past them.
“We had four or five players missing today but the boys who came in did really well.”
Fellow Borderers Vale of Leithen squeezed past Craigroyston 4-3 with Robbie Ross scoring on his debut for the Victoria Park team.
East Kilbride required a late strike from Anton Brady to edge past Tynecastle 3-2 at the K Park, but Edinburgh City strolled past
Ormiston 4-0 at Recreation Park and Spartans hammered Burntisland Shipyard 7-0 at Ainslie Park to also reach the quarter finals.