Adam knows it’s crunch time for Eagles
Adam Pattinson Perthshire Rugby captain Adam Pattinson is bracing himself for a tense finish to the BT National League Division 3 season.
The Eagles’drop fears were intensified at the weekend following a 25-41 North Inch defeat against fellow relegation candidates Haddington.
Shire sit perilously close to the danger zone - only three points above Dalziel - heading into the final three fixtures of the campaign.
Pattinson knows it is crunch time and said:“Dalziel have had a bit of a resurgence and have managed to get themselves off the bottom of the table. It’s hold onto your hats time for us now. We are feeling a lot more pressure but it would mean a lot to stay in the division.
“After getting back in the league at the start of the season, it would be a double kick in the teeth to go down.
“It’s pretty tense now until the end of the season. But we still have a chance.
“It might just be out of our hands now because other teams have a game in hand.”
Pattinson was back on the field for Saturday’s defeat against Haddington.
“The scoreline possibly flattered them in the end,”he explained to the Perthshire Advertiser.
“One more try on Saturday would have given us two points to see out the game.
“A couple of points would have been very valuable but even they got away from us.
“It was a frustrating afternoon because we were in the game. But too many mistakes cost us.
“Credit to Haddington as they cut us up a bit and had a very potent set of backs, who were very hard to deal with on the counter attack.
“There were some really good performances from our young players.
“We spent a lot of time working on the line-out last week and that worked well for us on Saturday.
“But everyone let themselves down in certain areas.
“The result was a knock for us but we need to keep each other going.”
Shire hit the road to take on high-flying Murrayfield this weekend.
“We will train this week and be as determined as we can be for the Murrayfield game,” Pattinson said.
“We ran Murrayfield close at the North Inch earlier in the season and were unlucky not to take a losing bonus point.”
Due to a number of call-offs this season, Shire will end their campaign up in Orkney on Saturday, April 21.
“Summer rugby would be best,”Pattinson said.“There are so many more positives to take from it.”