GHK 18 Glasgow Accies 0


It was wet, it was windy but both teams put on an entertaining display under the lights at Old Anniesland on Friday evening. GHK ran out winners as a result of the forward dominance they exerted although, for the first twenty minutes, it was Accies who held the upper hand. Eventually however, from a forward drive, Craig Gossman squeezed over for the opening try. There was no more scoring in the first half as GHK focussed on preventing Accies capitalising on the elements.

GHK’s second half tactic of kicking for territory, allied to the driving play of the forwards resulted in a try for Danny Hoffman to make the score 10-0. An infringement by Accies allowed Dicky to break his kicking duck, landing a penalty for 13-0.

Greg Woolard then came on at hooker and fitted in so seamlessly that some observers didn’t realise a change had been made. His throwing in and scrumming was of the same high standard as Scott Cameron who he replaced.

Accies defended heroically towards the end, repelling drive after drive by the GHK pack but eventually a hurried clearance kick found Chris Breckenridge on the right wing. Even before he had caught the ball (to the concern of some spectators), Chris knew what was going to happen. With the Accies defence struggling to recover, the ball was moved along the GHK back line for Davy Whyte to score the final points of the evening.

GHK coaches and committee were understandably proud of the squad which was a highly experimental mixture of 1sts/ 2nds and some exiles like the redoubtable Gillon Rand who nearly scored with his first touch of the ball. Just imagine what the actual 1st xv would have done!

With the game fought and won, we retired to the Jimmy Ireland stand for the post match dinner, the excellent fare being provided by Alan James (did I say the point scoring was over?). It was a proud Ali Forbes who received the Trophy though, no doubt, Accies will aim to maintain their lead in the series next year

This article was posted on 9-Mar-2008, 11:40 by Hugh Barrow.