Paisley have to settle for a draw against higher-league rivals Killie
Craig Ritchie
Paisley Rugby Club had to settle for a share of the spoils in their first preseason outing of 2018.
The Buddies travelled to higher league rivals Kilmarnock gunning for revenge after the previous fixture between the sides ended in heartache for Paisley.
With a couple of weeks of preseason training under their belt, Paisley went into the game high in confidence.
But proceedings didn’t start exactly as they would have liked as Killie raced into the lead after intercepting a pass before scoring under the posts.
Paisley soon upped their game and some great defending forced Kilmarnock into a turnover of their own.
The visitors worked hard to get up to the Kilmarnock line and some bludgeoning drives resulted in the ball being moved quickly out to winger Paddy O’Donnell to score his first try of the season.
New club-vice captain Martin McKellar made the conversion with ease to make it all tied at 7-7.
Paisley had Kilmarnock on the back foot and continued to push the Bellsland side back.
Some more great work from the forwards resulted in Neil Ritchie scoring from five metres out – taking four Kilmarnock defenders with him. Another conversion from McKellar made the score 7-14 to the visitors.
Kilmarnock soon began to get more possession of the ball, but credit must go to the resolute Paisley defence who kept them out.
McKellar got an opportunity to calm the game down deep into the first half after Kilmarnock were caught offside at the ruck.
He elected to take the three points on offer and Paisley went into the break with a 10-point lead.
After a stern talking to by their coaches, the Kilmarnock team came out as a different animal in the second half.
Two unconverted tries wiped out Paisley’s lead and tied the game at 17-17.
With Paisley having a rare foray into the Kilmarnock half, McKellar stepped up to kick a drop goal to put Paisley back in the driving seat at 17-20.
Kilmarnock went on the attack again, with their fullback working hard to create opportunities on both wings. They scored again to take the lead for the first time in the game. With no conversion, the score was now Kilmarnock 22 Paisley 20.
Paisley dug deep and, with some harsh words handed out after the previous try, Paisley took the play to Kilmarnock.
This was do or die for the Paisley team, and some great interlinking play between the forwards and backs resulted in winger Jonathan Scott, on his debut, having an opportunity to score.
Scott audaciously stepped by three Kilmarnock players and scored a great try.
McKellar took the conversion to make it Kilmarnock 22-27 for Paisley.
But joy nearly turned to heartbreak as there was still time for one final twist in the tale.
Kilmarnock worked hard in attack and, in the final minute, scored a try to draw the game. With the conversion still to come, Paisley could sense history repeating itself.
But luckily for Paisley, the Kilmarnock 10 missed the kick and the game ended in a draw.
Saturday sees the Buddies take rugby to Renfrew as they take on Garnock RFC at 1.30pm at Renfrew Leisure Centre.