FORTRESS Dilly was the mantra before this game.

It resonated throughout every aspect of the home side’s preparations, even echoing around the dressing room in the seconds before they marched down the steep hill from the pavilion to a pitch which has provided many memorable moments over the years.

Unfortunately, it transpired the foundations of the fortress were rather less substantial than required.

By the end of this season, Lomond’s players and coaching staff could come to look back with anguish on a game in which they played most of the rugby, scored the game’s only try, yet still finished the day on the wrong end of the score-line.

The result came as a surprise, with everything pre-match pointing in Lomond’s favour.

They had won two games on the spin, while their opponents lost all four of their own opening league fixtures.

The truth is, despite their appalling start to this season, ‘Endrick are a good side. They might not win many prizes for flair, but they have a firm grasp of rugby’s fundamentals — fitness, discipline and togetherness.

Lomond would always have needed to be at their best to win this game and for reasons which clearly bewildered them, they simply weren’t.

They almost managed to pull the result out of the fire, but throughout the eighty minutes seemed to be slightly below their best.

It was not pretty by any standard, but it was utterly compelling from first minute until the last. The opening exchanges were bruising.

Lomond kicked off into the sunshine and made progress with a combination of pugilistic power from the forwards and sniping breaks from wingers Muir and Fairman.

The visitors never looked like piercing Lomond’s miserly defence but they did manage to stretch it on more than one occasion.

After 15 minutes, they secured possession about 40-metres out and, after the defence failed to close down Endrick’s stand-off, he needed no second invitation to send a sublime drop-goal neatly between the posts.

To their credit, Lomond remained unphased and simply went about the job of getting back into the match. Five minutes later they did just that.

Nicholson set the ball rolling with an electrifying break that almost led to a score. Lomond then bashed their way back up the park in a series of forward drives before Manus Flynn crashed over for a real purist’s try.

Both teams tried to lift their games to gain a more decisive advantage, but when the ref blew up for half-time it was Lomond ahead 5-3.

The fortress walls remained intact, but it wouldn’t last. The second-half followed a similar pattern to the first, with Lomond’s players increasingly frustrated by the dogged and unflinching defence of their opponents.

Lomond’s frustrations were beginning to boil over into repeated infringements that were handing big territorial gains to Strathendrick.

With the home defence woefully slow to get into their opponent’s faces, ‘Endrick’s second choice stand-off punished them with a magnificent drop-goal from all of forty-five metres.

It was tough on the home team, but it was also a really great piece of skill.

Strathendrick were now ahead by a single point, and so the score-line stayed, despite Lomond’s efforts.

With just 10 minutes left, Lomond earned a penalty barely within Nicholson’s range.

Nevertheless, he opted to go for the posts and the home crowd held their breath.

He slotted a great kick between the posts, met by a mighty roar of relief from team-mates and supporters.

It looked like the game was now in the bag with only five minutes to go, but ‘Endrick had other ideas.

They bashed their way down the field and when the Lomond defence panicked unnecessarily to give away a penalty just 30-yards from goal, they sealed their fate.

Manfully, in the dying seconds Lomond wrestled to turn the game around but it was too late.

This defeat will hurt, there’s no denying it, but perhaps this is the kinds of test of character that the Lomond team can benefit from.

The league is very tight, with the supposedly unbeatable GHK falling to a Clydebank side that Lomond have already crushed.

With a little more belief, there is every chance that Lomond can force themselves into the promotion mix — that must be their focus.

This article was posted on 8-Oct-2008, 18:07 by Hugh Barrow.