GHK vs Lenzie Old Anniesland 5/9/09

The usual suspects plus a decent sized gathering of normal human beings put in an appearance on a less than promising afternoon at OA – less than promising weather wise I hasten to add.
GHK kicked off and after some pretty aimless to-ing and fro-ing we were awarded a penalty after 3 minutes which Robbie Stewart banged over in the absence of Davy Whyte. 3 - 0
Chris Bruce and Gun put together a nice move in the centre and fed Andy McTavish- reverting to wing threequarter this week- and he nearly barged in at the corner. Good pressure by GHK but our Achilles heel – careless hands – allowed Lenzie off the hook.
The forwards continued from where they left off last week and won good ball in loose and tight and forced another Lenzie misdemeanour but we could not convert the kick at goal.
Forwards and backs were working well to keep Lenzie pinned in their own half and Gun and Andy Fleming combined nicely to get the ball well down into the Lenzie 22. Careless hands again – cue for a song – and we were back in our own half. The Lenzie stand off has a howitzer boot and we must avoid giving him opportunities to clear.
Inevitably we were penalised for holding on and the Lenzie stand off made it 3 – 3. Two minutes later he did it again and we were down 3 – 6 somewhat against the run of play.
We fought back and a good break from Robbie gave us an attacking scrum well inide the Lenzie half. From the base a lovely pick up and drive from Rory at no 8 nearly put Flem in but the pass was a bit too hard.
Disaster struck a couple of minutes later with Andy McTavish seeing red and taking a swipe at a Lenzie player pulling him back off the ball. Unhappily the ref decided it was a punch and McT was given his marching orders. Given the size of Andy, if he had indeed punched the guy, it’s unlikely he would have been so chipper about it. Lenzie added the points from the spot kick and we were down 3 – 9. Ominous.
The spirit of this side came through now and a great break in the centre by Chis Bruce gave Rory a chance to nip in in the far corner and despite the missed converson we were right back in it at 8-9 at half time.
Down to 14 for the second half and if anything the forwards moved up a gear. Great hands from forwards and backs and from a penalty Gordy Reid spotted a gap and nipped over for a try 13 – 9.
Line out and scrummage ball was meat and drink to us and, despite having only 7 forwards, we won good clean ball in both areas even nicking one against the head – well done Gordy. Mike Aird was a constant pest to the Lenzie scrum half and they got very little decent ball.
Next score came from another good pick up and drive from the base of the scrum by Rory McCormack feeding Darcy and from the loose ball Robbbie knocked over a drop goal. 16 – 9 and a degree of limited optimism was creeping around the vast crowd.
From the restart Gun banged a huge kick down into the Lenzie 22 to keep the pressure on. The final score came after a great interception run by Rory Love skinning his opposite man but the excellent Lenzie cover nailed him in the corner. However, we got another penalty shortly after and Robbie finished the game off with 3 points. Final score GHK 19 – Lenzie 9.
Once again I have to take my hat off to the whole team for showing great guts and determination but particular praise goes to the forwards who just would not back down. Man of the match – Gordy Reid.
The Pres
Team – A Fleming,A McTavish,J Shannon,C Bruce,R Love,R Stewart,
M Aird, A Forbes,G Reid,C McClay,A Drummond,H Parker,E Thow,
P Broadbent and R McCormack.
Subs G Woolard,A Gunning,M Horner

This article was posted on 7-Sep-2009, 17:15 by Hugh Barrow.