Greenock Wanderers 7 – Glasgow Accies 14 (Friendly)

Fort Matilda, Greenock

15th March 2008



“Victory at the Fort”



Even though this was a friendly fixture that enabled two teams to keep players active its still a keenly fought contest and a useful workout for Accies ahead of their forthcoming league fixtures against a team in the league above them.



Although the pitch was very heavy due to the heavy recent rains Accies started excellently and were on the scoresheet within the first 5 minutes through Playing captain Alan Wilson.

Accies kicked off and immediately put Greenock under pressure forcing them to kick to touch 15 metres out from their own line. Accies threw in and Alan Wilson dummied the pass and simply glided past the defenders to score under the posts. Converted by Gareth Williams.



Greenock 0 – Accies 7



Gaining their composure Greenock doggedly worked their way back into the game with some solid play mixing up their game between driving in their forwards and moving the ball wide. Accies gave them some help in this matter by conceding at least 12 penalties in the following 20 minutes. Fortunately for Accies, Greenock were still a bit rusty and weren’t able to finish off their moves with any clear conviction and with the wind behind them any errors in the execution enabled Accies to clear long downfield through the boot of Alan Wilson and Jamie Doig.



Accies got their second try after 35 minutes. Following a deep kick and good follow up pressure Accies won a lineout 5 metres out from Greenock’s try line. A simple lineout take was fed to Alan Wilson who drew the first man, popped to Jamie Doig who burst through the defensive line to score Accies second try under the posts. Again converted by Gareth Williams.



Greenock 0 – Accies 14

Accies had a further chance but were unable to convert into a try when they broke off a scrum from 25 metres out. Having drawn the last defender, for some reason Ian Williamson didn’t release the pass to wing Ross Chassells who would merely have needed to run into the corner. However Ian passed back inside to the supporting Pete Mieklem. Pete made good progress closing in on the try line but couldn’t force his way over and the chance was lost. It’ll be back to the training ground for Ian on Tuesday…



Half Time: Greenock 0 – Accies 14



Playing into the wind in the second half and with the pitch getting heavier all the time Greenock were going to ask some questions of Accies and ask them they did.

The second half saw Greenock build momentum as their pack began to put some phases together, fortunately for Accies the distribution through their backline was sometimes a bit mixed with passes going to ground when Accies were stretched in defence.

However Greenock do get their reward after 65 minutes when they take a quick penalty and spread it down their backline. The Greenock full back came into the line beautifully and simply outran the covering Accies defence to score in the corner. A superb conversion from the touchline draws Greenock back to a seven point defecit and a nervous final 15 minutes for Accies in their search for a moral boosting victory.



Coming under more and more pressure Accies retreated back into their 22m zone but defended well as Greenock went in search of an equalising try. Superb defence and a dogged determination by Accies not to let the victory slip saw them through to record a morale boosting victory.



Greenock have a very young side but it does have a lot of talent, which given time will mature into a potent, attacking team coached by former Glasgow stalwart Dave McVey, and they are in the league above Accies so it was a very useful victory for Accies.



Stephen

This article was posted on 17-Mar-2008, 07:58 by Hugh Barrow.