Ayr 24 Glasgow Hawks 28

"South Of The Border (Down Mexico Way)"

South of the border, down Mexico way.
That's where I fell in love where stars above, came out to play.
And now as I wonder, my thoughts ever stray.
South of the border, down Mexico way.
If you live outside of Glasgow, the geography if the City can be confusing. When Ayr decided to give up home advantage and move this long anticipated Scottish Cup quarter final to the artificial pitch at the Police ground at Lochinch, eye-brows were raised as it was seen as giving Hawks an advantage. But to West-Enders, the East and South of the City are as strange as distant grounds such as Mansfield Park. Not for nothing is the south of the Rio Clyde referred to as Mexico. So, it was that a small but hardy band of supporters, didn’t quite don sombreros but took their passports, just in case, and made the journey “South of the Border”.
The obvious talking point was the pitch, it stood out as bright a patch of green in the midst of a grey Scottish winter. The lines were marked as if the pitch was ready for the first match of the season. Prior to the start of the match the talk in the two teams medics was of the first encounter with the surface.
Hawks started the game lively as had been the pattern early season, really taking the game to their “hosts”. There was a strong wind blowing down the ground from west to east and Hawks had it at their backs. Early tactical kicking was, unfortunately frustrated by the different bounce of the ball on the surface. The surface appeared to kick long and it was difficult for both sides to adjust to.
Early play saw Gavin Lowe put Hawks into the corner with a well placed kick and Ayr struggled to throw straight in the breeze. The two sides seemed evenly matched in the early exchanges, but slowly Ayr started to play more of the game in the “visitor’s” half. Hawks were under pressure after a loose pass in their own in-goal area forced an error and Ayr had a 5 metre scrum. This put the Hawks defence under considerable pressure as Ayr battered away. After several phases, Hawks defence was out of shape and Ayr put the ball wide allowing Ayr full-back Grant Anderson to come in on the burst and open the score with a try, as Ross Curle converted Hawks were down by 7. (7-0)
The “visiting” support had hardly had time to take this in before Ayr pulled further ahead. From the kick off Ayr countered with a clearing kick and were contesting the ball in Hawks half. They won the short lived contest and blind-side Graham Fisken made a tremendous burst, taking the ball deep into Hawks 22. Although the tackle on Fisken was made it wasn’t enough to stop scrum-half Murray McConnell gathering the ball and going over for Ayr’s second close to the posts. Again Curle added the extras and Hawks now seemed to be in deep trouble. (14-0)
There was an expectation that Ayr would now just move onto the demolition phase. The skies above looked ominous for the weather just as things looked ominous for Hawks on the pitch.
Hawks had Ayr under some pressure but a couple of efforts saw fumbles close to the line and Ayr seemed to be easily capable of containing Hawks. A period of pressure saw Ayr clear, but they were soon under pressure and Haddon McPherson was very unlucky with a chase of ad excellent Jack Steele kick that went long and into touch in the in-goal area just before he half hour.
The pressure had it’s own rewards as penalties from Jack Steele in 35 minutes and then on the stroke of half-time went over but it seemed only to make the scoreboard about more palatable at half-time as Hawks went in 14-6 down. (14-6)
During the interval one Ayr supporter said to me “Oh well, it might be a game of two halves.” I’m not sure if he was aware of his powers of prophecy, but they were considerable. Jamie and Jimmy worked some magic at half-time, reminding the team of the abilities they have and as the game kicked off they came out battling. Hawks gathered the ball from the kick-off and immediately countered. They drove forward in a rugby blitzkreig leaving Ayr’s defence reeling. Within moments they were deep into the “home” 22 and Mateusz Bartoszek took the ball on from about 10 metres out battering through Ayr’s defence. The Polish International looked to be through but was hauled down by three tacklers just short of the line. He set the ball up and Fin Gillies, in close support, took it over for the try. The conversion was missed but the match had sprung to life. (14-11)
It was now Ayr’s turn to struggle with the bounce and having seen the problem in the first half Hawks adapted quickly to take advantage of their discomfort. Hawks were looking on the up and in 49 minutes Kenny Beattie broke from deep in his own half taking his team-mates with him up to Ayr’s 22 weaving his way through Ayr’s defence. Whilst Ayr cleared from a turn over at the breakdown they were soon on the rack again. This time Colin Gregor gathered a clearance ball and quickly put Ayr under pressure. As the full-back was tackled Bartoszek was on hand to support. The big back-row rumbled into the Ayr defence before once more setting the ball up, clearly relishing his return from injury. Paddy Boyer popped a pass to Gus Hamilton, who with a surprising grace twisted and turned before going over for the score. Lowe converted and as the hour mark approached the Glasgow men had a lead. (14-18)
Ayr quickly narrowed the gap with a Curle penalty in 62 minutes, but this brief respite was to be short lived. (17-18)
There was an edginess to the tie as the close score tended to show but Hawks displayed a confidence which had been missing for a few matches. It seemed that, collectively, the remembered they were a quality team with nothing to fear on the pitch. With 8 minutes remaing Haddon McPherson scored what could be possibly be his best try this season. Taking the ball close to the touch, he stepped inside his opposite number cutting infield. As he moved on the diagonal, he seemed to sell his marker toward the touch before going further infield. He looked like he was going to lose it in traffic, but his instinct was good and he evaded a final desperate tackle attempt going in beside the posts. As Lowe kicked the extras, hawks had an emphatic lead. (17-25)
The win was secured when Lowe put over a 79th minute penalty kick. (17-28)
Despite, Ayr’s Zimbabwean prop, Denford Mutamangira going over in 79 minutes with barely a defender touching him, Hawks seemed self-assured finishing the game on the front foot and stifling any hope of Ayr coming back. (24-28)
When the referee blew the whistle Hawks were 10 metres out from Ayr’s line. The team showed exactly what they were capable of and sent the small band of supporters home to fiesta or in the case of some of the older ones to siesta…

This article was posted on 23-Feb-2014, 16:18 by Hugh Barrow.