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| CAITHNESS 15 - FORRESTER FPS 9 by Iain Grant |
| Wed 9th Mar 2005 |
The Greens on Saturday came tantalisingly close to ensuring their battle to secure promotion is in their own hands.
The mission before the match was a victory over their rivals for second spot behind BT National League Division 4 champions Falkirk.
Call it greed but the home following towards the end were not content with a win but were urging their troops to deny the Edinburgh outfit a losing bonus point.
A rollicking good converted try from young hooker Steven Campbell 10 minutes after the interval had restored his side's lead and was destined to close the scoring.
Ahead more comfortably than the six point margin, a late penalty effort from Michael Henderson looked a banker only to drift inches wide of the left post.
That gave Forrester an ill-deserved but crucial single match point, by which they lead Caithness, with each side having two games to play.
Coming with the reputation of a side that likes to throw the ball about and attack the wide channels, the visitors proved a huge disappointment.
They never seriously threatened to cross the Greens' line with their scoring threat confined to the accurate boot of Stewart Fulton.
Caithness had their tails up early on with the first action seeing scrum-half Graham Fryer scrag his counterpart at a scrum, William Mill pirate possession and Hamish Boyd punch a hole deep into opposition territory.
Prop Danny Budge, enjoying his first start for some time, caught the eye with some bullocking charges.
One such charge was the prelude to a series of 10 phases of Green possession which ended with Jim MacMillan almost over.
Forrester defended stoutly but the pressure eventually told when they strayed offside after 16 minutes and Henderson nailed the penalty.
The return of Campbell ensured Caithness line-outs were more reliable while front jumper Ewan Boyd was prominent in disrupting opposition throws.
It was the half-hour mark before Forrester paid their first visit to the Greens' 22.
Ironically, it almost paved the way to a try at the other end when an over-elaborate three-quarters' move saw a rogue pass intercepted by Hamish Boyd.
He galloped off before offloading to James 'Pop' Sinclair who spilled the pass to deny himself a possible run-in from the half-way line.
The first try arrived on 29 minutes when Henderson twice fly-hacked upfield, with his second kick inside the Forrester 22 chased hard by Brett Morris.
The teenage winger, making his first start, showed composure and skill in scooping the ball off the ground before plunging over wide on the left.
Henderson's conversion was just short.
Incredibly, Forrester struck back to claim an interval lead.
The way was paved by indiscipline in the Caithness ranks, which has all too often dealt self-inflicted wounds during this campaign.
In the last four minutes of the half, successive infractions at ruck and tackle areas drew shrill blasts of Alan MacLean's whistle.
Fulton's third successful kick put his side 9-8 in front.
A lifeless spell after the resumption was revived when the home side regained their lead.
Campbell, a buzz-bomb presence about the field, charged down a clearance kick 30 metres out and then showed determination and good soccer skills before crashing over.
Henderson got his angles spot on to land the extra points from wide out.
With the momentum now very much in favour of the home outfit, the self-destruct tendency again intervened.
After Ewen Boyd knocked on as he attempted to field a spiralling punt, he petulantly cast the ball into the face of an opponent after the pair had exchanged words.
The upshot saw the Caithness lock sin-binned and the scrum converted into a full penalty.
Fortunately for the home men, Fulton had just left the park with a head knock and the kick for goal was missed.
After Henderson's agonising penalty miss, a searing break from Duncan Sangster took him clear but he lacked support and the attack fizzled out.
The result means two bonus- point victories for Forrester in their remaining matches would see them go up with Falkirk.
That is however a tall order as they have to travel to Lenzie and Orkney, with the latter battling to stay in the division.
Caithness tomorrow travel to Fintrie to face Strathendrick and end their campaign with a home match against Leith on March 26.
Greens skipper Andy Morris is hoping the side will not rue the chance they had on Saturday to rack up a more convincing win.
"It was good to get a victory but I felt afterwards that it was a case of a job half-done.
"They were there for the taking and we have only ourselves to blame for not making it more convincing."
Morris is however keen to draw on the positives, notably a very sound defensive display and some notable individuals performances.
He highlighted the impact of the return of Budge and Campbell and the full debut of youngster Morris.
Budge is offshore and unavailable tomorrow and prop/ hooker Sinclair Dunnett is a doubt but winger Richard Mackay returns to the squad.
Falkirk have their sights on finishing the only National League side with a 100% record.
On Saturday, they boosted their points tally with a 48-17 home win over Lenzie.
Aberdeenshire meanwhile stole a march over Orkney in their tussle to avoid the drop.
'Shire leapfrogged the islanders with a 34-14 victory on their own patch over the already-relegated Earlston.
The other game provided the shock of the day with Strathendrick boosting their slim hopes of staying up by beating Cumnock 25-12.
Caithness v Forrester: J. Mill, J. Sinclair, H. Boyd, D. Sangster, B. Morris, M. Henderson, G. Fryer, J. MacMillan (D. Buchanan (62), S. Campbell, D. Budge (S. Dunnett (30) E. Boyd, A. Morris (cpt), W. Mill, G. Sutherland, E. Sutherland. Replacement (unused) -- L. MacNicol.
Ref -- Mr A. MacLean, Dingwall.
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