Fan spirit boosted by Eagles victory

Home support watch Perth side punish Orkney

A glorious late summer’s day was the ideal setting for Perthshire to sparkle and pen down their first win of the season on Saturday.

Spirits of the loyal home support were certainly lifted following a positive North Inch performance which bagged maximum points against Orkney.

Perth coaches worked the team hard at training through the week and banished all negative thoughts from the previous week’s defeat at the hands of Ardrossan.

This was a different Shire team on display and the return of Dan Bowater helped to bolster the pack.

The game was barely five minutes old when Scott Alcorn showed off his pace to break the Orkney defence.

When he was eventually hauled down the ball was quickly recycled and fed to Ryan Miller, who stormed over for the first try converted by Adam Dearden.

The opening exchanges were carried out at a furious pace as both teams fought for control.

Shire’s scrummaging was much improved from the season opener. Miller soon stole the ball from the back of the scrum and jinked his way inches from the line.

He couldn’t edge over but won a penalty which Dearden made no mistake for another three points.

Skipper Miller was having a cracking game and he spotted Jonny Armitt hovering out wide.

A beautifully weighted cross kick was perfect for the winger to catch and romp over for try number two.

Orkney were being contained by Shire’s strong defence and the Rae brothers had the midfield sown up between them.

The long-travelled visitors were battling, though, and looked as though they could take full advantage of any home lapses.

After sustained pressure Orkney got their reward when Alex Kansour powered over on the half hour mark.

But Shire responded straight away with a score of their own.

The ball was swept out to Alcorn who turned on the power to dot down for another great try in the corner.

Shire continued to spread the play wide in the second half and a loose clearance kick by Orkney saw the ball land into the welcome hands of Bowater.

He set off for the line, beat one man and sold an outrageous dummy to the final defender before crashing over the line for the bonus point try.

The forwards continued to press through the middle to suck in defenders and Alcorn again ventured off at speed down the left.

Support arrived at pace, resulting in Miller and then Dearden nudging the ball wide for Cowan to scamper over for the try.

Orkney upped their game and were denied points when they dropped the ball when a score looked certain.

They continued to attack ferociously and once again forced a gap in Shire’s defence to pull themselves back into the contest.

Bowater, who had given his all in his first game back, was taken off along with Miller but 25 minutes remained and Orkney were sensing a comeback.

Moments later Alcorn sped onto an interception but was penalised as the referee judged that he must have been offside as he was so quickly up.

Orkney walloped the penalty into touch, won the lineout and scored.

The game had changed completely as Orkney’s pressure led to mistakes in the Perthshire ranks.

They crossed the line again but lost control of the ball while touching it down.

Shire were living dangerously but, after a nervy closing 10 minutes, held out for a well-deserved bonus point victory.

Perthshire ........... 34 Orkney ................ 19