GHK 39 Grangemouth 0

Well, all our devotions on our knees for the week before this game paid off spectacularly in the first moments. Straight from the kick off, Andy McTavish launched a boot up the park and this was hacked on by Gordy Reid. Danny Hoffman chased hard and picked up from his toes only to drop the ball and knock on in the act of crossing the line. Amidst the groans of the assembled bufties and others, the referee awarded the try! There was a stunned silence and the Hoff actually had the temerity to claim he really had scored – no prizes for guessing who got the dress.
I must pay my compliments to all the Grangemouth people involved as there were no toys out the pram incidents which I suspect would not have been the case had the boot been on the other foot. So, 10 seconds gone and GHK 7 – Grangemouth 0.
The next period was marked by several strikes against the head to Gordy which is most encouraging as the Grangemouth pack was not short on bulk.
The simple things in this game of ours are usually the best and we demonstrated this after a good sniping run from Mike Aird was followed by 4 crisp passes to Rory Love who nipped into the corner in 12 minutes – Davy White missed a very tricky conversion. 12 – 0.
Same again was the order and we were unlucky not to repeat the score with good quick hands along the line.
Next in the action was Greg Woolard with a good strong run into the Grangemouth 22. Not quite sure what happened next but we seem to have decided simple was boring or something and it all went a bit stale with far too many penalties against us letting Grangemouth off the hook. We had plenty of chances to get the ball wide but either cutting back into the traffic or poor passing let us down.
The first half came to an end eventually after very nearly 50 minutes 12 – 0.

We started the second half looking as if back to basics had been the half time message and in 5 minutes Rory and Gunn traded good passes down the left side and this led to a penalty to us. Disco took it short and breenged over for a well deserved try – no conversion. 17 – 0.
Same again 2 minutes later with good hands from the Hoff starting and finishing the move – no conversion 22 – 0.
By now we were completely in control: scrum and line out functioning very smoothly – some very good line out work from Darcy. Danny and Davy were enjoying some good breaks and Rory had a run down the left setting up position in the Grangemouth 22. Unhappily self destruct was never far a way and a couple of silly penalties let Grangemouth clear the danger.
Gordy Reid was enjoying some good possession at the base of the scrum having replaced Mike Aird at scrum half. From one of these Gordy breaks, he gave a pass to Gunn who took it on and Pete Broadbent was held up just short but managed to flick it up to the ever present Gordy to go over for another unconverted try. 17 minutes gone 27 – 0.
The next few minutes saw some excellent play started by Well’ard from the kick off. The ball was moved swiftly and accurately left and right through several hands and a hole eventually opened up for big Andy McTavish to charge over and Davy had the range this time. 34 – 0.
The boys had really got the idea now and simple, accurate passing got us into good positions several times. Good Grangemouth defence kept us out. We were not doing ourselves any favours though and unnecesary back chat cost us more penalties and thus good position.
Danny and Davy again combined well in the centre and the final score came from one of their combinations with Davy surging over for a try which he could not convert.
Ref was obviously bored and blew up some 6 minutes early.
Final score GHK 39 – Grangemouth 0.
Given this is a National 3 team this was a very good result but we really do have to address the discipline situation. Cool heads need to prevail. We are good enough to have nothing to fear but cannot afford to let the opposition off the hook by giving away needless penalties. Sermon over – well done guys.
The Veep

GHK Team
A Fleming, J Shannon, D Whyte, D Hoffman, R Love, R Stewart, M Aird, A Forbes, G Reid, S Cameron, H Parker, E Thow, G Woolard, A McTavish, M Borthwick Replacements A Drummond, P Broadbent, C McLay, J Mihill

This article was posted on 3-Mar-2009, 22:43 by Hugh Barrow.