“Accies slip in the wet…”
 
After a week of rain that saw floods in Greenock and landslips on the “Rest and be thankful” road it was something of a minor miracle that this game was on and a huge debt of gratitude must go to Robert Cheape and his groundstaff at New Anniesland. Quite simply Robert is the best Groundsman in the business and it was game on at New Anniesland.
 
Accies started brightly, almost as bright as the sun that burst out from behind the clouds to give some light relief from the rainy showers that persisted throughout the match and after flashing moves, with the ball being zipped about, Stephen O’Donnell was the man with the steady boot to guide the penalty kick over after 10 minutes to open the scoring. 3 - 0
 
Accies were comfortably on top in the early stages, full of energy and brio, and hit home their advantage after 25 minutes when Robert Beattie, back at scrum half, opened the try count with a superb try. An Accie scrum on Annan’s 22m line, just to the left of the posts, a No.8 pick-up and drive from Andy Jackson and the pop pass out of the tackle gave Robert the chance to sprint for the line and he took it! A terrific try and things were looking good. 8 – 0
 
Sadly for Accies this was as good as it got. Annan, tough opponents at any time, found the way to get themselves back into the game, grinding it out at first and then opening up as their confidence grew and sadly, from an Accies perspective, it was no surprise when they scored their opening try right on half time. Terrific continuity from Annan saw them retain the ball through 12 phases of play (from the big guys hitting it up, to moving it wide but, importantly, retaining the ball) and finally they spun the ball left from the right hand touchline, two cut-out passes and Accies had run out of defenders and the Annan winger ran in for the try, beautifully struck over by their stand off. 8 – 7 Half Time.
 
The second half continued in the same vein as Annan grew stronger as the game went on. Accies didn’t seem to have the answers as the ball was hit up when the wide pass was the option and the boot was used far too often for your scribes liking. The most important thing in a game of rugby is the ball, if you have it you can control the game and set the agenda, if you kick it away you lose control…
 
Quite rightly, Annan gobbled this up and, as always in tight games kicks decide the outcome and it was no different today as after 18 minutes Annan were awarded a penalty kick on Accies 10m line. Their Stand-off was up to the task and the ball made it over to put Annan into the lead. 8 – 10
 
10 minutes later Annan stretched their lead to a winning margin of 8 – 13 as following another penalty their stand-off stroked it over, again from distance – no mean feat given the conditions.
 
Full Time Accies 8 – Annan 13
 
Summary: Sadly, Accies ran out of ideas. The early promise and scoring died away as they got roped into a wrestling match and Annan have a heavy pack. Annan deserved their win, they worked hard and ground it out and found the answers to get themselves in front. From an Accies perspective, very disappointing… having beaten Annan at Annan earlier in the season they should’ve been able to do the double but didn’t. Official Man of the Match was Pete Meiklem, your scribe couldn’t see past Robert Beattie – I don’t know if it’s the gene’s or just simply the vast knowledge and knowhow of the Beattie clan but they keep producing exceptional sportspeople.

This article was posted on 3-Dec-2011, 19:53 by Hugh Barrow.