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| CAITHNESS 0 - HOWE OF FIFE 18 by Iain Grant |
| Fri 9th Nov 2007 |
For most of this tussle, spectators not in the know would have been hard-put to pick out who were the unbeaten league leaders and who were embedded in a relegation dogfight.
The Greens undoubtedly stung their highly rated visitors with a feisty performance full of passion and endeavour.
The first half had them ahead in the possession and territory stakes, even while left short-handed for 10 minutes through skipper Ewen Boyd’s sin-binning.
Only a concession of avoidable penalties – a feature of their campaign -- and a lack of penetration to complement some admirable approach play left them trailing 6-0 at the turnaround.
There was among the touchline supporters a general hope and, among the more optimistic, a growing expectancy that the Greens could be the first to lower the colours of the Fifers.
A decent enough start to the second period did nothing to alter the upbeat mood.
But the fortunes of the home outfit took a decided dip when Boyd was sent off after being show a second yellow card for his part in an isolated flare-up.
Losing a corner-stone of the pack, and in particular the line-out, was always going to be a major handicap and thereafter all realistic hopes of the Greens getting some tangible reward disappeared.
Howe scored a try midway through the half and a second at the death to record one of their scrappiest victories of the season.
Caithness were boosted by the return of William Mill at full-back in a useful-looking back division while Halde Pottinger -- back in the county after a spell of globetrotting – joined brother Ranald in the front row.
An encouraging start by Caithness in which they made good yardage from some well-crafted phases was undone when ball carriers were penalised for not releasing after the tackle.
Howe served early notice of their potential when a powerful surge from their open-side Ian Wilson was repelled a couple of yards from the try-line.
Several phases later, the Greens infringed at a ruck and Jamie Smith landed the simple ninth minute penalty.
Mill announced his presence with a trademark high-impact tackle in a sequence which ended with a penalty to his side.
Blair McIntosh was towards the limit of his range and his attempt at goal fell well short.
With Andy Morris pinching several line-out throws and the Greens profiting from a series of Howe handling errors, they enjoyed more quality possession in the opening quarter than in the whole of the previous week’s heavy defeat at Linlithgow.
The visitors looked distinctly out-of-sorts and did not deserve to add to their lead with a second Smith penalty after 16 minutes.
Four minutes later, ref Paul Wood showed Boyd his first yellow card after he deemed the lock had been careless in his use of a boot at a ruck.
The Greens coped well with the loss and continued to operate largely in opposition territory.
A slick offload Kris Hamilton to McIntosh sparked one decent attack but, like others, it was to fizzle out for want of a decisive finishing thrust.
The recycling of possession between plays was generally too slow, allowing Howe to regroup and spread themselves across the field to nip attacks in the bud.
McIntosh had a good opportunity to halve the deficit six minutes from the break but his pot at goal ended up coming back off the left upright.
The pressure was maintained and Howe were showing signs of jitters in their goal-line defence, with a series of nervy, snatched clearance kicks.
The visitors survived to mount a late dangerous raid which was repulsed when Morris rose again to steal win possession at a Howe five metre line-out.
The uncertainty about the outcome of the contest continued throughout the 10 minutes after the turnaround.
Then came the pivotal flashpoint, ignited by Howe centre Euan Jack’s crude straight-arm flooring of Hamilton as the scrum-half scuttled down the blindside.
Jack was yellow-carded, as was Boyd for his part in the stormy aftermath to the incident.
With his departure now permanent, the odds were now loaded against the short-handed Greens who however refused to buckle.
Howe’s display continued to be beset by basic handling errors after they had worked themselves into the scoring zone.
The first try of the afternoon came on 61 minutes after Smith turned down the chance of a three pointer in favour of drilling a penalty down the touch- line.
The Greens did well to resist a series of driven mauls from the line-out but they were outnumbered when the ball was released wide and Jack was able to stroll over unopposed.
Smith’s conversion stretched the lead to 13-0.
Caithness again responded gamely with some yard-guzzling touch finds from stand-off Gary Mackay.
Howe’s close-in defence was put under renewed scrutiny until the pressure was relieved when they contrived to steal scrum possession against the head on the 70 minute mark.
Scrum-half Stewart Lathangie fed Terry Turpie who broke clear of the 22 before punting downfield.
The lanky replacement winger showed a sharp turn of pace as he homed in on the loose ball five metres from the home line.
The Greens were thankful to the alertness of Mill who did well to back-pedal and skilfully pluck the ball off the ground and get to his feet in one motion to defuse the emergency.
Caithness were now out on their feet and only desperate defence and sloppy execution prevented Howe grabbing three or four more tries.
Left winger Andrew MacLean was foiled by a last-ditch tap-tackle Hamilton tackle and MacLean then fumbled with the line at his mercy.
They finally breached the defence again in injury-time when full-back Ally Reekie sent Turpie over in the right corner.
Smith’s failed conversion brought the curtain down on an entertaining tussle.
Caithness can rightly take heart from what was a courageous effort versus the league leaders.
But, on sober reflection, it was another home defeat, which further deepens their relegation fears.
It is also of concern that they did not register on the newly installed scoreboard at Millbank -- the first blank they have drawn in a National League fixture.
Coach Jim MacMillan remains confident his troops can ride out the current storm and confirm their place in Scottish Hydro Electric NLD 2.
With experienced hands returning to the squad, he senses the tide is turning.
He believed the sending-off crucially tilted Saturday’s contest in favour of the visitors.
“Speaking with the Howe guys after the match, they agreed that was the key turning point.
“Up until then, they were kind of struggling but one they got back to 15, they pushed on and it was big ask for us to keep in the game.
“To the team’s credit, they battled away until they ran out of steam at the end.”
This evening, the Greens set off for their longest haul of the campaign – the marathon hike to Newton Stewart in the deep south-west.
They are boosted by the earlier-than-expected return of vice-captain Stevie Campbell, who has recovered from a cheek-bone he fractured in Inverness at the start of October.
The club was yesterday still awaiting a decision on the sanction for a double yellow carding to establish whether Boyd can play tomorrow.
With no fresh injury concerns, MacMillan dubs the match as ‘winnable’.
Caithness: W. Mill, G. MacLeod, B. McIntosh, J. Sinclair, G. Fryer, G. Mackay, K. Hamilton, S. Dunnett, H. Pottinger, R. Pottinger, E. Boyd (cpt), A. Morris, G. Anderson, E. Sutherland, D. Gordon. Replacements (used) – C. Smith and K. Gove. Unused – L. MacNicol.
Howe of Fife – A. Reekie, A. MacLean, E. Jack, S. Spittal, G. Imrie, J. Smith, S. Lathangie, S. Player, J. Fox-Clark, R. Watts, G. MacHugh, D. Lorimer, W. Pickard, C. Mason, I. Wilson. Replacements (used) – G. Steadman, C. MacNab and T. Turpie.
Ref – Mr P. Wood, Skye.
Stewartry’s recent revival continued when they earned a gritty 22-22 draw at Kilmarnock.
Glasgow Accies’ push away from the foot of the table was also helped with their 24-8 home win over Grangemouth.
Cit rivals Allan Glens remain bottom following their 44-5 defeat at the Bearyards by the strong-going Dumfries.
Forrester’s push for a second successive promotion was boosted after they edged out Linlithgow 29-27.
Highland’s scheduled match versus Newton Stewart was postponed because of the death of former Newton Stewart president Gordon Armstrong whose sons Graham and Neil are both in the first team squad. The game has been rescheduled for February 9.
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| 1st XV Season (2009/10) |
| Kilmarnock 81 - 5 Caithness |
| 17th Apr 10 - KO: 12:00 |
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| :: Match Report |
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| 1st XV Season (2010/11) |
| Caithness vs Kilmarnock |
| 4th Sep 10 - KO: 15:00 |
| Venue: Millbank |
| :: More Fixtures |
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