Bulls can’t find their way through dominant Forest
Hard-working Hamilton tried their best to get one over on Tennent’s National League 1 title-chasers Jed-forest, but just came up short as they lost 32-19 at Riverside Park.
Jed’s lineout dominance hurt the Bulls badly, as they powered to an important win, which kept them just a point behind leaders Marr.
Hamilton remain in ninth, but just a point ahead of Dundee HSFP.
Jed claimed kick-off but Hamilton’s defensive line speed caught them out and forced a long-range penalty in the first minute, which Owen Mcleish almost converted.
Hamilton were dealt a blow early on when Ben Plant and Robert Brown suffered a head knock and were removed from the play for medical attention.
Jed’s lineout came onto a game and they began to dominate possession, forcing their way over the Bulls’ line, only for great defence to deny them.
Bulls survived a succession of scrums on their line, with Mcleish booting clear.
Hamilton showed their attacking intent by taking short penalties and carrying the ball deep into Jed territory, before a loose pass gave possession back to their hosts.
However, the deadlock was finally broken in 18 minutes when Jed were caught for crossing in midfield and Mcleish slotted the penalty.
Hamilton continued to throw everything into attack and in 22 minutes they forced their way deep into the Jed 22.
From a lineout maul, scrum-half Alasdair Sinclair broke loose and scampered over for their first try, stretching the lead to 8-0.
Hamilton were showing great character in defence and were helped by some uncharacteristic errors by Jed; however, one missed tackle let them back into attack and from a lineout five metres out, prop Jamie Oliver forced his way over under the posts for an easy conversion by Gary Munro, cutting Hamilton’s lead to a point.
The response was immediate, with good handling seeing the ball move from side to side until a gap emerged for Mark Wallace to take it close to the line.
Support play was brilliant, ball shuffled quickly to the wing, where hooker David Mcgrath was lurking to dot down in the corner.
Hamilton extended their lead after another good sequence of play when Mcleish dropped into the pocked and knocked over a drop goal in 35 minutes for a 16-7 advantage.
Jed still had time to record a score before the interval when Hamilton gave away a cheap penalty, and Gregor Law cut the deficit to 16-12.
Hamilton went into the second half looking to stretch their lead and grab a shock result, but the next score was always going to be crucial, and in 52 minutes Lewis Young gathered his own kick ahead to score in the corner.
Jed’s forwards then earned a penalty try as Hamilton began to tire .
Young almost repeated his earlier try, but Hamilton defended well and were next on the scoreboard with a penalty from Mcleish after a Jed player was sinbinned, bring the score to 24-19 with 10 minutes left to play.
Despite their numerical advantage Hamilton could not capitalise and it was Jed who had the final say with a try by Paulo Ferreira, converted by Law.
Coach David Gemmell was pleased with the performance but frustrated with the result.
He said: “We gave it a real shot and our defence was solid.
“In attack we were also accurate and secure – we just did not have enough possession.
“Their lineout dominance really hurt us.”