RUGBY: IN FORM EK HAMMER GREENOCK
Brown also on scoresheet after return from injury
Another contender for ‘performance of the season’ saw East Kilbride demolish a Greenock Wanderers side with whom they had been slightly fortunate to draw with back in October.
This was a far stronger East Kilbride on Saturday though than took the field at Octavia Terrace, as that first iteration did not include Paul Rosie, Scott Shankie or, most pleasingly, Ian Brown.
The last named has endured a wretched time with serious knee injuries and it was a joy for everyone to see him back on the field.
Perhaps ‘everyone’ should be qualified slightly in that while nobody in the Greenock side would have begrudged Brown his comeback they may have wished it had waited a week, for he gave them a torrid time, showing he had lost none of his pace, power or aggression.
Even more prominent, at least on the scoresheet, was Shankie, with the low-slung number eight claiming four tries and there were also touchdowns for Simpson and Hagerty. Kicking duties were shared by Shankie and Aitken.
Excepting last week’s defeat at Carrick and the dour struggle in the Annan mud, coach Allan Steel has to be pretty chuffed with his side’s form of late, dishing out four thrashings and five wins total across the past six games.
This one mirrored the routs at Cambuslang, Oban and Kilmarnock, in that East Kilbride stood strong in the set piece before launching the heavy duty centre partnership of Greenfield and Simpson into the opposition midfield.
With a good target to aim for the pack carried aggressively. Whereas last week at Carrick they became bogged down in their one-up game, this week they mixed the tactics and made good use of the off-load to supporting runners.
In turn, the backs were afforded a degree of space in which to operate and with effective, if different in style, wingers like Brown and Ellison then defences quickly become stretched.
Richie Murray started at standoff for the first time and provided an effective link between forwards and backs, albeit under no great pressure, while young full-back Ethan Aitken brought his customary booming boot to proceedings.
East Kilbride remain fourth in the table after their victory, but slim hopes of promotion are tempered by the fact they have played more games than the sides above them.
This Saturday East Kilbride host second bottom of the table Irvine with revenge on their minds, having gifted the Ayrshire side their only win of the season in October.
Kick-off at Torrance House is scheduled for 3pm.
TEAM: 1. McLellan, 2. Anderson, 3. E. Beaton (c), 4. Dalgleish, 5. Rosie, 6. Irvine, 7. R. Beaton, 8. Shankie, 9. Stott, 10. Murray, 11. Ellison, 12. Greenfield, 13. Simpson, 14. Brown, 15. E. Aitken.
Replacements: Hastie, Wilson, Ferguson and Hagerty.