Sponsored by
Reds' Annan agony
LINLITHGOW................................ 22 ANNAN .................................... 28 LINLITHGOW Rugby Club hosted Annan on Saturday and both had a lot to play for.
Annan dropped down a division last season but had regrouped, as their league position showed, lying second top and having beaten leaders Falkirk just the week before.
The Reds had a good win under their belts and were able to field a strong team although Gregor MacKenzie was sidelined with a fractured bone in his face and Jonathon Dawes replaced him in the centre.
Euan McDavid, back from injury, started at fullback, with Dave MacKenzie on the bench as back-up. Bill Taylor and Andy Johnston were on the bench.
Sponsored by West Lothian Council, the match started well for the Reds with two incursions into Annan territory being stopped feet short of the line, in the second case due to some truly heroic defending.
Matt Dixon had a close miss at a penalty but sent his second effort between the posts after 10 minutes. It took the Annan back until the 20th minute before their winger went over for the first try of the day.
Three minutes later he scored from a well judged chip, McCann adding the conversion.
Yet another penalty, with a yellow card for the Annan flanker, allowed Dixon to bring the half-time score to 9-12.
Prop Billy Edment, who went on to collect Linlithgow man of the match, took an
interception from halfway and ran down the left touchline, avoiding a weak tackle attempt to score an unlikely try after two minutes, Dixon taking the conversion for a 16-12 lead.
With the Reds pack winning a lot of ball, it was hoped tries would start to come.
But it wasn't to be and, after the ref had dealt a yellow card to the Reds' hooker, McCann pulled Annan into the lead with two penalties. Stu Hammond took the lead back with a drop goal.
A few minutes later Dixon did the same and with 15 minutes to go the Reds had a four-point lead.
A second yellow card to the Reds prop left the home side with 14 men to defend the lead for 10 minutes and another penalty saw the gap narrowed to just one point.
Using their advantage, the Annan lads set up the best try of the day with a move down the left wing and the extra man, flanker Mike Scott, was on hand to run in the winning try, McCann adding the conversion.
After the game Gordon Ford, sometime coach of the Reds, said: "One of the
imponderables of the game is the number of times one can watch the better side losing."
Skipper Stu Hammond said his players' efforts were second to none.
"Our downfall is not enough players are appearing for training, missing so much, and making everyone's job that bit harder," he said.
Linlithgow: McDavid, Birrell, Bredin, Dawes, Goudie, Dixon, Hammond, Edment, Hope, Clydesdale, Jamieson, Waddell, Martin, Dobie, Walker. Subs: (all used) Taylor, Johnston, MacKenzie
This Saturday Linlithgow are away to Glasgow Accies for the last game in the first round of the division, hoping to come away with enough points to regain their fourth league spot. Earlier kick-off time at 2.30pm.
SUPER SECONDS
EARLSTON 2nd XV ......................... 5
LINLITHGOW 2nd XV ........................ 42
The second XV had a great win when they beat Earlston 42-5 away from home.
Linlithgow shrugged off their poor league form with an emphatic victory over their Borders opposition. Reds welcomed back Matt Crosby for a guest appearance and he repaid his former team mates handsomely by scoring three tries.
Andrew Archer and Robbie Richardson also crossed for tries and Joe Singh rounded off a textbook backs move with the final try.
Euan Richardson capped a fine performance at No. 10 by converting all six tries.
WELL WON
LINLITHGOW 3RD XV...................... 26
MURRAYFIELD 3RD XV..................... 12
The 3rd XV secured a good win against a stuffy Murrayfield 3rds at lower Mains Park with tries from Jon Blundell, Iain Taylor, Mark Bonnar and Ewan Kelly with Kelly adding three conversions in a 26 - 12 win.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Linlithgow
Saturday 04 February 2012
Today
Heavy rain
Temperature: 1 C to 4 C
Wind Speed: 20 mph
Wind direction: South
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 2 C to 7 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: South west
