Glasgow Hawks 34 - 25 GHA

JIM BYERS at Old Anniesland March 07 2005

After watching his side fumble its way to a valuable, but fortunate and unimposing, bonus point win over their admirably belligerent city rivals, Hawks coach Peter Wright admitted his men had been \"lucky\" to depart the field with a victory.
Though the hosts notched up six tries – including three for winger Wes Henry – and, in doing so, regained top spot in the league, the scoreline flattered Wright\'s men and it was only in the last 10 minutes of this thrilling derby clash that they finally managed to establish any semblance of control.
\"I think the guys thought it was going to be easy and there was a lack of respect for the opposition,\" acknowledged Wright of this tussle between teams at either end of the premiership table.
\"They were just going through the motions, thinking they were going to win and that really annoys me.
\"We were lazy and it was an awful performance from us by the standards we\'ve set, and we were lucky in the end,\" he added.
Certainly, the end result failed to do justice to the bravery, resourcefulness and skill of GHA, who were desperately unlucky to leave the field without even a loser\'s bonus point.
It was no surprise, then, to find Wright\'s opposite number David Wilson seething with bitter disappointment following the final whistle.
Apart from the frustration of seeing his team come within minutes of downing the reigning league and cup champions, Wilson was also furious with the match official, Graeme Hannah, who had effectively changed the course of the game when he sin-binned two of the visiting players in the second half, while appearing to show leniency towards Hawks\' offenders.
\"We gave Hawks a bit of a surprise for 90% of that game,\" explained Wilson outside his team\'s dressing room, \"but we had a referee who perhaps contributed to our downfall because he seemed to pander a bit more to the bigger team.
\"We were down to 14 men for the majority of the second half,\" he added, referring to the sin-binning of Andy Williamson and Ian McKinnon, \"whereas we felt that when [Hawks captain Eric] Milligan came in from the side at one point, he could have sin-binned him.
\"We also had AJ [Macfarlane] taken out in the air and there was no sin-bin there either.\"
Wilson had a point, with both highlighted incidents appearing to warrant yellow cards, but arguments aside, the loss finds the Braidholm team now in real danger of being relegated, especially in light of wins on Saturday for fellow basement strugglers Watsonians and Currie.
Wilson\'s team must now win their remaining games, against Melrose, Currie, Aberdeen GSFP and Glasgow Hawks, all of which are, fortunately, at home.
\"Our destiny is in our hands now,\" declared Wilson of the relegation battle that looms, \"but I\'m confident that we can do it if we play the way we did today.\"
There was plenty of evidence on show at Anniesland to support Wilson\'s belief that his side are good enough to stay in the top flight.
In Scotland Under-21 scrum-half Macfarlane, centre Alan Bulloch, full-back Barry Edgar and No.8 Justin Mathieson, GHA certainly fielded some of the match\'s most eye-catching performers.
The match itself was a helter skelter affair that produced nine tries in all, with Edgar landing a 20-point haul for GHA.
The opening 40 minutes was bizarre, with Hawks scoring first through Henry after 10 minutes and looking in the mood to massacre their opponents.
But, despite being utterly dominant, they somehow entered the break 15-12 down after GHA scored two tries totally against the run of play.
It was a similar story in the second half, with Henry again scoring early on, before GHA went back in front with a try of their own from Edgar.
But as the clock reached the 70 minute mark, with GHA weakened and reeling from their double sin-binning, replacement Mike Adamson crossed for Hawks, followed five minutes later by prop Peter Dalton, as the home side finally stretched away for the win.

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Glasgow Hawks 34 - 25 GHA

JIM BYERS at Old Anniesland March 07 2005

After watching his side fumble its way to a valuable, but fortunate and unimposing, bonus point win over their admirably belligerent city rivals, Hawks coach Peter Wright admitted his men had been \"lucky\" to depart the field with a victory.
Though the hosts notched up six tries – including three for winger Wes Henry – and, in doing so, regained top spot in the league, the scoreline flattered Wright\'s men and it was only in the last 10 minutes of this thrilling derby clash that they finally managed to establish any semblance of control.
\"I think the guys thought it was going to be easy and there was a lack of respect for the opposition,\" acknowledged Wright of this tussle between teams at either end of the premiership table.
\"They were just going through the motions, thinking they were going to win and that really annoys me.
\"We were lazy and it was an awful performance from us by the standards we\'ve set, and we were lucky in the end,\" he added.
Certainly, the end result failed to do justice to the bravery, resourcefulness and skill of GHA, who were desperately unlucky to leave the field without even a loser\'s bonus point.
It was no surprise, then, to find Wright\'s opposite number David Wilson seething with bitter disappointment following the final whistle.
Apart from the frustration of seeing his team come within minutes of downing the reigning league and cup champions, Wilson was also furious with the match official, Graeme Hannah, who had effectively changed the course of the game when he sin-binned two of the visiting players in the second half, while appearing to show leniency towards Hawks\' offenders.
\"We gave Hawks a bit of a surprise for 90% of that game,\" explained Wilson outside his team\'s dressing room, \"but we had a referee who perhaps contributed to our downfall because he seemed to pander a bit more to the bigger team.
\"We were down to 14 men for the majority of the second half,\" he added, referring to the sin-binning of Andy Williamson and Ian McKinnon, \"whereas we felt that when [Hawks captain Eric] Milligan came in from the side at one point, he could have sin-binned him.
\"We also had AJ [Macfarlane] taken out in the air and there was no sin-bin there either.\"
Wilson had a point, with both highlighted incidents appearing to warrant yellow cards, but arguments aside, the loss finds the Braidholm team now in real danger of being relegated, especially in light of wins on Saturday for fellow basement strugglers Watsonians and Currie.
Wilson\'s team must now win their remaining games, against Melrose, Currie, Aberdeen GSFP and Glasgow Hawks, all of which are, fortunately, at home.
\"Our destiny is in our hands now,\" declared Wilson of the relegation battle that looms, \"but I\'m confident that we can do it if we play the way we did today.\"
There was plenty of evidence on show at Anniesland to support Wilson\'s belief that his side are good enough to stay in the top flight.
In Scotland Under-21 scrum-half Macfarlane, centre Alan Bulloch, full-back Barry Edgar and No.8 Justin Mathieson, GHA certainly fielded some of the match\'s most eye-catching performers.
The match itself was a helter skelter affair that produced nine tries in all, with Edgar landing a 20-point haul for GHA.
The opening 40 minutes was bizarre, with Hawks scoring first through Henry after 10 minutes and looking in the mood to massacre their opponents.
But, despite being utterly dominant, they somehow entered the break 15-12 down after GHA scored two tries totally against the run of play.
It was a similar story in the second half, with Henry again scoring early on, before GHA went back in front with a try of their own from Edgar.
But as the clock reached the 70 minute mark, with GHA weakened and reeling from their double sin-binning, replacement Mike Adamson crossed for Hawks, followed five minutes later by prop Peter Dalton, as the home side finally stretched away for the win.

This article was posted on 7-Mar-2005, 08:43 by Hugh Barrow.