Head coach Rhodri Thomas was without captain Colin Stuart, whose wife Claire gave birth late last week, while Mark Renton was also missing from the squad for the first time this season.
That meant full-back James Ferguson took over as captain, while Rab Watt started at hooker, and there was a first appearance of the season for Gavin Stewart on the replacements bench.
And after a poor first 50 minutes, where the Reds found themselves 18-3 down, two Garry Cockburn tries, and eight points from the boot of Gareth Pritchard brought the Reds back level.
And the HRFC head coach praised the efforts of the squad, saying: "I was pleased with the way we were able to come back from 18-3 down to draw the game and with a little more composure maybe we could have won it.
"The players deserve a huge amount of credit for the way they got back into the match. They showed a lot of character that will stand us in good stead for the remainder of the season.”
The Lanarkshire outfit made the better start, and crossed for the game’s opening try on 25 minutes when Rian Anderson barged over.
However, the home side dominated the set-piece, with the pack turning over a number of scrums. And a powerful scrum brought the Reds a penalty, which Gareth Pritchard landed to make it 3-8, before Shankie extended the East Kilbride advantage with a penalty of his own.
The home side were eight points down at the break, but there were positives to take from the opening 40 minutes, with Jonny Riddell putting in some big tackles and Kris Paterson to the fore at the breakdown.
As the sides turned round at the break, a mistake in midfield saw visiting centre Ian Brown race clear, and he snuck over despite the best efforts of Kyle Adams and skipper Ferguson.
Haddington’s Kyle McGarvie thought he had gone over from another powerful scrum, but the referee judged he was held up and awarded another scrum.
From there, McGarvie was again denied, but Garry Cockburn burrowed over from close range.
Tighthead Cockburn - with injured brother Calum watching from the clubhouse - had a superb game, and went over again after good work by his pack colleagues.
Pritchard landed the conversion to make it 15-18 and the stand-off levelled the scores when he kicked a late penalty to secure two points for the county club.
A determined second-half showing will give them hope going into this weekend’s cup clash with Dundee HSFP at Neilson Park.

Team: James Ferguson, Kyle Adams, Kyle Hamilton, Liam Clutton, Mark Robertson; Gareth Pritchard, Alex Ferguson; Alan Laidlaw, Rab Watt, Garry Cockburn, Ben Laing, Harry Hamilton, Jonny Riddell, Kris Paterson, Kyle McGarvie.
Replacements: Gav Stewart (on for Laidlaw), Charlie Hamilton (on for H Hamilton) and Alex Watt