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| CAITHNESS 17 - LINLITHGOW 15 by Iain Grant |
| Fri 9th Mar 2007 |
The Greens continued their late season revival with this narrow victory which sets them up for a tilt at finishing in the top half of National League Division 2.
It will be no easy task as the run-in involves home-and-away fixtures with Garnock and Annan, who are both on gunning for promotion.
Caithness on Saturday coped well with a flurry of late personnel changes to avenge their earlier reverse to the West Lothian outfit.
Linlithgow’s first foray to Millbank proved a bad-tempered affair with several outbreaks of fisticuffs.
One or two players were fortunate not to be sent off for their indiscretions, with the only sanction involving visiting flanker Steven Dobie spending the last 10 minutes of the match in the sin-bin.
A brisk start by the Greens was rewarded with two well-worked tries.
A third after Linlithgow had weighed in with one of their own gave Caithness a comfortable 12 point cushion at the turnaround.
But a third quarter fade-out allowed the visitors to come back strongly and narrow the gap with a penalty and converted try.
The previous ambition of the home camp to nail a bonus point try was replaced by a steely determination to hold out for the win.
There had been early success when centres William Mill and Norman Foubister created an opening for James Paterson to exploit.
The Strathy youngster - fielded in the unfamilar role of full-back - sped through an undefended channel to touch down near the posts.
Blair McIntosh’s casual conversion attempt went wide.
The respective packs were not shy in getting to know each other and the visitors’ propensity to illicitly stifle quickly-recycled opposition possession created a succession of flashpoints.
One spell of over-robust rucking resulted in the referee intervening to caution both packs.
Caithness kept the initiative and were soon celebrating a second try in the left hand corner from winger James ‘Pigeon’ Sinclair, who carried strongly throughout the first period.
Suitably stung by his earlier miss, McIntosh made a perfect job of adding the extras from wide out.
From a restart penalty, Linlithgow forced themselves into the home 22 with a lusty punt into the swimming pool corner from stand-off Euan McDavid.
From the take-and-drive from the resultant line-out, hooker Graham Kerr barged over for an unconverted try.
Sound Caithness defence for the remainder of the half denied the visitors further success.
The tide turned with a turnover ball at a scrum when Evan Sutherland pirated possession and fed inside to George Sutherland who punted downfield.
This led to a sustained period of pressure in the Linlithgow 22.
Caithness won a series of lineouts and scrums as their opponents desperately defended their line.
After all the pressure was in the town side of the tennis court end, they eventually crossed in the opposite corner when a well-controlled surge from a line-out propelled Andy Morris over the line.
With McIntosh unable to improve the score, Caithness led 17- 5 at the break.
After the interval, Linlithgow eagerly set about eating into the lead as the Greens suffered an all-too-common third quarter malaise.
Sustained pressure forced a penalty which McDavid potted before sloppy work at the tail of a home scrummage led to Linlithgow scrum-half and skipper Stuart Hammond intercepting a pass to romp over without a hand being laid on him.
McDavid converted to narrow the gap to two points.
The Greens then had to be on their defensive mettle as the visitors strived to force their noses in front.
With no further joy and being short-handed for the closing 10 minutes, their challenge fizzled out
Caithness almost got a bonus point when Paterson’s cracking, midfield break was the prelude to James ‘Pigeon’ Sinclair breaking up the left touchline in a run which almost took him to the line.
Linlithgow’s cause was not helped by their concession of a late run of penalties for offences at the breakdown.
In a tough, competitive match in which no quarter was given, the Greens’ midfield of Mill and Norman Foubister worked well in defence and the latter made a lot of good ground going forward.
Scrum-half Chris Hamilton made a useful contribution and executed another of his text-book, crunching tackles which are rapidly becoming a feature of his game.
In hard-working pack, Ewen Boyd took the plaudits for his control of the line-out.
Linlithgow president Gavin Brown said his side paid for a poor start.
"We were disappointed with our performance in the first half," he said.
"That enabled Caithness to establish a useful lead which left us which just too much to do to peg them back.
"Caithness however defended very well in the later stages."
Caithness coach Colin Sangster, who was not at the game, was delighted to learn of the success.
He said: "From what I’ve been told, we had a good start and were quite comfortable at half-time but then we changed the game plan and almost came a cropper."
Sangster is keen to make further inroads in the league though he acknowledges his side have a tough finish to the campaign.
"Realistically, we could finish fifth though that is not going to be easy, given the games we have left."
Caithness have no fixture tomorrow when they intend having a training game.
Caithness Seconds are due to be in Lynn Cup action tomorrow with a match versus Orkney.
Colin Sangster was missing last Saturday as he was involved in preparing the Caledonian under-18s in their Scottish title decider versus Edinburgh at Dunbar.
Caley won 12-10 to complete a clean sweep of wins and give the coach his third title success over the past seven years.
Caithness - J. Paterson, J. ‘Pop’ Sinclair, N. Foubister, W. Mill, J. ‘Pigeon’ Sinclair, B. McIntosh, K. Hamilton, J. Foubister (cpt), A. MacAuslan, J. MacMillan, E. Boyd, A. Morris, E. Sutherland, D. Pottinger, G. Sutherland. Replacements (all used) - D. Buchanan, G. Anderson and A. Campbell.
Linlithgow - D. Mackenzie, A. Wylie, D. Goudie, M. Green, R. Martin, E. McDavid, S. Hammond(cpt), J. Cavana, G. Kerr, E. Gunn, S. Jamieson, S. Waddell, K. McKenzie, S. Dobie, J. Walker. Replacements (all used) -- A. Johnstone, K. Clydesdale and A. Swanston.
Ref: Mr A. Moss, RAF Lossiemouth.
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