New Anniesland
Saturday 24th November

"Accies blow it!"

On a cold wintery day Accies hosted Caithness in a must win fixture, victory would essentially pull Accies clear of any relegation concerns, defeat means that they will be sucked into a relegation dog fight with three very tough fixtures prior to the Christmas break.

Caithness kicked off, and in their now customary fashion Accies did not catch the kick and are immediately under pressure and concede a penalty which Caithness kick and take the lead.

Accies 0 – Caithness 3

Stung by their early error Accies move into offensive mode and pin Caithness in their own 22m zone for the next ten minutes. Accies backline seemed to be functioning better with some sprightly moves from Mike Hermes but stout scrambling defence from Caithness and quite frankly Accies inability to take their chances meant that despite all the pressure and possession Accies do not open their account until the 30 th minute with a penalty from Graeme Simpson.
It was however not the real opening score as Accies No.8 Graeme Simpson clearly scored from a scrum pick up and drive to the line, however the referee was extremely poorly positioned and by the time he had run round to confirm the try, Caithness had got hands onto the ball and the try was not awarded.

Accies 3 - Caithness 3 (Half Time)

The second half was one for Accies to forget save for a couple of sprightly backline moves. Playing into the breeze Accies got pinned back in their own territory and a succession of errors and mistakes enabled Caithness to get into the game. Incredibly, Caithness had not scored a try in 4 hours of playing time and quite frankly didn't look capable of scoring against Accies either until they kept Accies under pressure and eventually Accies ran out of defenders and Caithness had scored.

Accies 3 – Caithness 8

Accies try to come back to save the game but can't get the score and lose a game essentially due to their own inability to take their chances and kill off a very limited but stout hearted Caithness team. Caithness will be delighted at winning this game as they got the maximum reward from a very limited gameplan and somewhat limited players. However, they competed and never gave up hope and sadly Accies gave them the opportunity to win which they grabbed with both hands.

The next three games are a real test of Accies desire as they take on Forrester, Linlithgow and league leaders How of Fife in successive weeks, the players have to regroup and raise themselves for the battle ahead.

This article was posted on 25-Nov-2007, 23:05 by Hugh Barrow.