Good morning all
This is the last report for a very long season and no doubt you are as relieved as the players.
Accies asked Allan Glens if this game could be played midweek as they were committed to sending teams to Howe of Fife and the Oban 7's. Unfortunately they could not accommodate us as they had organised an end of season lunch that is a money spinner for them. Also they had to win this game to take them out of second bottom place in the league.
Accies fielded a very young side with numerous 2nd XV players being given a chance to demonstrate their skills. The match report was compiled by Stephen Winter and can be found on the Accies and Hawks websites.
In the end the players selected put up a pretty good performance in the circumstances and there is hope for the future.
It has been a disappointing season overall. Only one away was won and all but two of the home games were won. The travelling all over Scotland is the killer both financially and on the players. Many of our players are students and have weekend work on Friday and Saturday evenings so quite often we had to travel with weakened sides. We were also hit by the loss of players to retirement and Brad Bell having to return to the USA due to lack of work during the frozen winter. We also suffered from injuries to key players for the important games and players being away for business commitments.
However there is hope for the future. Ewan Smith has settled in well as Head Coach and has made progress and there is the prospect of new players arriving and injured players returning to fitness.
We do not expect to lose many players from the squad and the younger ones will benefit from another years experience.
I am sure that you will wish them well under the new leadership of Gavin Smith, younger son of the legendary Jimmy Smith, and his team.
Thank you for reading these reports and for your helpful comments. I shall now sign off and go and see what I can do for our neighbours next door, Glasgow Hawks
Kind regards
Alasdair Graham

This article was posted on 10-May-2011, 06:31 by Hugh Barrow.