BUDDIES’ UNBEATEN HOME RUN COMES TO ABRUPT HALT
Paisley players gutted as they fail to make it 10 great wins in a row
Craig Ritchie
Paisley’s proud unbeaten record was halted in its tracks – just 80 minutes short of making it 10 in a row for the season.
Being undefeated at Fortress Anchor for 13 months, another win seemed inevitable.
Unfortunately, the rugby gods were not shining on Paisley and it was Cumnock who took the victory and secured their place at the top of BT West Division Two.
The game kicked off in usual fashion, with a battle of the forwards and neither team taking a backwards step.
There were chances for both teams but defence won in the opening exchanges.
Paisley were determined to score a try and passed up various kickable penalties in favour of kicking to the touchline and relying on the ever dominant line out.
However, the Cumnock defence was a match for everything Paisley had to throw at them.
The clock continued to tick forward and Cumnock got on to the front foot, with great work from their pack resulting in a try. Their stand off stepped up for the resulting conversion and made it 7-0 to the away side.
Paisley stepped it up a great deal and had chance after chance to score with the last pass being the repeated issue.
A great run by the backs down the left wing, with great work from Colin McKay and Grant Berry being the closest Paisley came to a try before the half-time break, with a last-ditch tackle saving the day for Cumnock.
Into the dying minutes of the half and Paisley got a penalty for a high tackle. Martin Mckellar took on the kick at goal and made it Paisley 3, Cumnock 7.
The second half started with Paisley in the ascendancy.
The Buddies enjoyed most of the possession but lacked the final bit of cutting edge needed to score the try.
Cumnock, trying to slow the game down, had a rare forage into the Paisley half, with Paisley being penalised in the ruck.
The talented Cumnock 10 took the kick at goal and extended their
Aaron Graham is stopped in his tracks by the Cumnock defence
lead to 10-3.
The penalty ping- pong continued as Paisley moved back into Cumnock territory.
Cumnock were being penalised for being offside consistently throughout the game.
The referee was getting to the end of his tether and Martin Mckellar stepped up and made no mistake with the penalty to make it 6-10.
Cumnock could sense the Paisley fight back and rallied themselves, using both forwards and backs alike to put pressure on the Paisley defence.
Finally, the Paisley defence broke after some good work from the Cumnock backs resulted in another try and conversion, taking the score to Paisley 6, Cumnock 17.
With five minutees left in the game, everything began to spark into life.
Cumnock were penalised again for offside and the referee finally had enough, giving out a yellow card for repeated penalties.
Paisley opted to take the scrum. A great platform was set up and replacement Alan Berry bowled over a few defenders to score the try.
The conversion was good and this looked like the game was set up for a big finish, at Paisley 13, Cumnock17.
The referee had different ideas though, and the crowd were not in for the showpiece finish that they all had hoped for.
The referee went into his pocket again shortly after the restart and evened things up by sending Ryan McCready to the sin bin for repeated infringements by the team.
The Cumnock 10 stepped up and missed the kick at goal.
Paisley caught the missed kick and went for a run up the pitch.
Would this be the chance, in the last minute to win the game?
Unfortunately not, as the pass did not go to hand – as had been the issue for Paisley all day.