Allan Glens 17 – Glasgow Accies 25 Match Report

22nd April 2008

Bearyards, Bishopbriggs



“Accies win relegation clash”



Both teams needed victory to ensure they lived to fight another day in a relegation battle at the bearyards. As it turned out Accies had that touch more class and desire to over come an Allan Glens side for whom time is now running out and with just two games remaining, one against runaway leaders Howe of Fife, Glens are staring down the barrel of relegation. For Accies it was just reward for all the hard work in training by the players and coaches in keeping spirits high and driving them onwards to improve their performances.



On a cold but dry Easter Saturday, Glens chose to play with the wind behind them and immediately started to play for position with kicks to the corners, trying to get their pacy wingers into the game early and put Accies under pressure. Usually a good tactic, but a combination of the kicks being too deep and Accies defence coping well meant that Accies weathered the early flurry of Glen’s activity. Slowly but surely Accies start to build phases of play and look most impressive when operating at pace. As the half developed Accies continued to dominate and after 25 mins a quick tap penalty from Jamie Doig on the Glens 22 metre line looked promising and when he passed to Steve Begley, Steve simply took on the remaining Glens defenders and bulldozed his way over from 15 metres out for the opening try converted by Gareth Williams.



Glens 0 – Accies 7



Glens were stung by Accies’ try and tried to force their way back into the game however it was in the main huff and puff rather than incisive running rugby and Accies defence was very strong with Steve Begley and Graeme Simpson in particular putting in some huge tackles as Glens tried to batter their way through.



Half Time: Glens 0 – Accies 7



The second half opened brightly for Accies, now with the breeze behind them and they dominated the first ten minutes as their confidence grew from their first half performance. However, a poor lineout in Glens 22m zone let Glens off the hook and they drove straight up the park through a combination of excellent running from their hard running back row, some slack defending from Accies and fear driving them on. Eventually Accies manage to scramble the defence to cover but eventually yield the try as Glens score but crucially miss the conversion.

Glens try was also marked by a moment of madness from Accies scrum half Ian Williamson who received a yellow card for some fancy footwork in front of the referees nose, quite how he thought he’d get away with it only Ian knows and it left his team mates in potentially serious trouble as the whole backline had to be reshuffled and young Chris Wright taken off to provide an extra back to fill the gap that Ian had left.



Glens 5 – Accies 7



As it turned out the next ten minutes were the turning point for Accies as they promptly put together the best rugby of the day with some superb continuity, driving mauls and running rugby eventually led to quick ball for Accies on Glens 10 metre line, the ball was spun down the line at pace and Mike Hermes caught the pass fully 40 metres out and with work to do. Mike simply put the foot on the gas, hit the outside line and scorched in from 40 metres out leaving a very pacy Glens winger and fullback trailing in his wake.

With a spring in their step Accies went off in search of more points and promptly got them via a drop goal from fully 35 metres out from Gareth Williams, a half chance maybe but sweetly struck and it sailed over



Glens 5 – Accies 15



Glens wouldn’t give up without a fight and they fought back into the game using their string running back row and scored a well worked try where Accies simply ran out of defenders on the outside. Crucially Glens again missed the conversion.



Glens 10 – Accies 15



Having been given a fright, Accies pull themselves together and some of their lineout driving play is immense as they put Glens under all sorts of pressure in the tight phases of the game. Accies third try came from a lineout drive deep into Glens territory from the halfway line. The ball comes back down the line and Jamie went for the inside line running left back towards the forwards then back out to the right and somehow held off four defenders to go over under the posts for a superb solo try which he also converted.



Glen 10 – Accies 22



That should’ve been that but credit to Glens who summoned the strength to drive up the field again and score a third try, this time in the corner and this time they converted the try to make it a nervy final few minutes. However, Accies were not to be denied and struck back immediately as they won a penalty and Jamie Doig kicked the final points that saw Accies go 5 points clear of Glens in the league with a points differential of 272 in Accies favour effectively meaning that to overtake Accies, Glens have to win both their remaining fixtures which will be a very tall order and Accies not get any points from their remaining three fixtures.



Final Score: Glens 17 – Accies 25



Accies are not fully out of the woods yet but Saturday’s result was a big step in the right direction and will give the players real confidence going into Accies final home fixture this Saturday against Kilmarnock.



Stephen

This article was posted on 25-Mar-2008, 07:46 by Hugh Barrow.