Bulls slip to fourth in table
Hamilton left thinking‘what if’
Lasswade .......... 22 Hamilton .......... 14 Hamilton were left with a feeling of ‘what if’ as they fell to a defeat against Lasswade that saw them slip down to fourth in the BT National League 2.
However, the Laigh Bent side have a game in hand over the teams above them as they travel to Whitecraigs on Friday.
In a game of contrasting styles, Hamilton’s expansive off-loading approach was stifled by the strongarm tactics of the hosts, who probably just deserved their win.
The loss can be put down to a number of factors – players are still missing through injury there were others who were unavailable, injuries on the day, and a gusty wind. Three yellow cards in the game didn’t help, either.
Despite an astonishing steal by Adam Ryan to deny Lasswade a score, they rumbled over for Douglas Hearn to score, and Andrew Bell landed the tricky conversion.
Hamilton tried to fight back; Josh White tapped a free-kick and made ground before a long pass failed to go to hand, Jordan Mclean was held up just short, and Scott Whitelaw couldn’t quite find Ross Jamieson with a scoring pass.
When the ball was coughed up in the Hamilton 22 and great move involving Ross Jamieson, Craig Skilling and Andy Wilson took Skilling close, before quick ball from the ruck went wide across the pitch to James Howatson for a try, which Owen Mcleish converted for 7-7.
Lasswade scored through Jamie Graham just before the interval, and while attempting to get one of their own, Hamilton’s Scott Alexander picked up the first of those yellow cards.
The hosts struck almost from the restart as Mark Wilson burst through several tackles to score, with Bell converting for a 19-7 lead.
Hamilton had defended well while down to 14, and when restored to full-strength they got stronger as the half wore on.
After several phases Mcleish dinked the ball over the flat defensive line and Andy Wilson dived to catch the ball on the full and touch down, with Mcleish converting for 19-14.
Despite what looked like an excessively over-robust hand-off by Lasswade winger Matthew Smith, James Howatson put in a powerful tackle, only to be sin-binned for ‘dumping’.
The hosts stuck to one and two out passes, grinding out the metres and denying the Bulls the ball, before Mark Wallace joined Howatson on the sidelines for a high tackle.
Bell’s successful penalty kick made it 22-14 and closed the game out.