|
|
 |
| ALLAN GLEN'S 38 - CAITHNESS 27 by Iain Grant |
| Fri 28th Sep 2007 |
The Greens on Saturday blew a glorious chance to post a precious away victory in the Scottish Hydro Electric National League Division 2.
A bullish start to their outing to the Bearyards had them 19-0 up after 24 minutes and well on course for a five pointer.
But their cause was holed below the water-line by a dramatic second half collapse which allowed their city hosts to clinch a much-needed first win of the season.
Caithness coach Jim MacMillan, who was again forced into playing service, was left to bemoan what had been a dramatic reversal in his team’s fortunes.
“We were shambolic in the second half – we must have gifted them three or four tries when we allowed guys to waltz through the middle,” lamented the coach.
“That was very disappointing as we’ve doing quite a bit of work on defence in the last couple of weeks.”
There were four changes in the starting line-up with Ranald Pottinger making an unexpected quick recovery from a leg knock to resume at prop.
Graham Fryer was back on the wing; James Paterson partnered Blair McIntosh in the centre; while Kris Hamilton took over at scrum-half after his spell training with the Scottish under-18s.
It was Hamilton who helped his side get off to a cracking start when he exploited a gap in the home defence to stretch over for a try.
Steven Campbell – relieved to have ended his emergency spell on number 9 duty – then scored a cracking second, stepping past a clutch of would-be tacklers on a 25 yard burst to the line.
When McIntosh went over for a third touchdown – two of which were goaled by Gary Mackay – the Greens were well in control.
Allan Glens came back forcefully with a good spell yielding two unconverted tries.
The visitors however broke the momentum by returning to the offensive and bagging a bonus point try thanks to a close-quarters touchdown by number eight Evan Sutherland.
Turning round to face the mild breeze, Caithness proceeded to hand the initiative to their hosts.
Two soft converted tries tied the score at 24-24.
Mackay then missed a penalty from near the posts, only for Blair McIntosh to land a more difficult shot at goal to restore the lead midway through the half.
The comeback proved temporary as the Greens found themselves very much on the back foot for the remainder of the match.
From the restart, the kick-off was spilled and a home forward brushed off some weak challenges with embarrassing ease to the line.
The try was converted, as was another try, to allow Glens to pull clear.
Coach MacMillan said: “It was a very disappointing to lose in the way we did.
“A losing bonus point is a very poor return for us but they probably deserved to win for the way they came back at us when they were down.”
MacMillan said the game plan at half-time was to keep things tight and try to close out the game.
“That just didn’t happen,” he said.
“We played far too loose – there were some stray kicks and some sloppy defending to let them right back into it.
“There were just too many guys not tackling – forwards were hiding behind rucks and mauls when they should have been in the defensive line and backs missed far too many one-on-one tackles.”
MacMillan faces an uphill struggle in mustering a squad to face Kilmarnock at home tomorrow.
“It’s just a case of seeing who is available.
“We’re really struggling for players as so many players from last season seem to have disappeared for one reason or another.”
Scrum-half Hamilton and wing forward Grant Anderson are on Caley under-18 duty tomorrow while prop Donald Buchanan remains sidelined with a rib injury.
Utility forward Steve Duval is unavailable while full-back Dougie Wright is ruled out with a hamstring injury.
MacMillan is hoping James ‘Pigeon’ Sinclair and David Pottinger will have recovered from knee and neck injuries respectively while centre Norman Foubister is back from a stint offshore.
Despite his best efforts to avoid action, the coach looks certain to have to again name himself in the squad for the game, which kicks off at Wick’s Bignold Park at 3 p.m.
Caithness v Allan Glens: D. Wright, G. Fryer, B. McIntosh, J. Paterson, R. McIntosh, G. Mackay, K. Hamilton, L. MacNicol, S. Dunnett, R. Pottinger, E. Boyd (cpt.), A. Morris, G. Anderson, E. Sutherland, S. Campbell. Replacements – (both used) J. MacMillan and G. MacLeod.
On a day of high scoring in NLD2, Forrester remain in pole position after a 36-24 win away to Glasgow Accies.
Howe of Fife are the only other unbeaten side though they struggled to prevail 14-6 at the home of bottom side Stewartry.
Dumfries scored a 39-17 home win over Linlithgow while Newton Stewart defeated Grangemouth 27-12.
In the first draw of the campaign, Kilmarnock kicked a penalty deep into injury time to tie 10-10 at home to Highland.
|
| Back to News |
|
 |
|
|
|
| Hawick YM |
2 |
10 |
| Kilmarnock |
2 |
9 |
| Waysiders Drumpellier |
2 |
9 |
| Glasgow Accies |
2 |
7 |
| Berwick |
2 |
6 |
| Annan |
2 |
5 |
| Highland |
2 |
5 |
| Aberdeenshire |
2 |
4 |
| Stewartry |
2 |
4 |
| Caithness |
2 |
3 |
| Newton Stewart |
2 |
1 |
| Alan Glens |
2 |
0 |
|
 |
| 1st XV Season (2010/11) |
| Caithness 25 - 27 Kilmarnock |
| 4th Sep 10 - KO: 15:00 |
| Venue: Millbank |
 |
| 1st XV Season (2010/11) |
| Stewartry vs Caithness |
| 11th Sep 10 - KO: 15:00 |
| Venue: Greenlaw |
| :: More Fixtures |
|
