Strathendrick fight back to secure bonus

FIXTURES Saturday, October 15 Ladbroke’s League 2 Stirling Albion v Berwick Rangers RJM Sports Stirling and District AFA East of Scotland Cup first round: Doune Castle v Portobello; Grangemouth Rovers v Pennies; Craigshill v Polmont. Second round: Westfield Colts v Loganlea; Linlithgow v Edinburgh Rose; Mill Inn v Syngenta; Bonnybridge v Armadale Th; Maddiston v Edinburgh Th; Clackmannan v Beechwood Albion; Dollar Glen v Callander Th; Camelon Albion v Tillicoultry; Fallin v Linlthgow Rose; Hermiston Vale v Stirling University; Slamannan v Redpath Albion; Dunblane Soccer Club v Carronshore; Stirling Boys Club v Drumpellier Th; Edinburgh South v Greentree; Bo’ness Cadora v North MerchistonVale.

Mathieson Trophy second round: Barrhill v Central Albion; Laurieston Ams v Riverside. Division 1A: Glenvale v Stirling Colts; Kincardine v Denny. Division 1B: Condorrat v Tullibody Community; MLS Leeds v Campsie. Division 2: Stirling Ams v Gormac Th; Forth Th v Harestanes; Carbrain v AFC Chryston. Caledonian League East of Scotland Cup second round: Sporting Icapb v Cambusbarron Rovers; North Edinburgh Wanderers v Doune. Premier League: Milton v Bearsden. Foster’s Central Scottish AFL JB Tyres Bunrigh Trophy quarter-final: Harestanes v Bannockburn. East of Scotland Cup second round: Salvesen v Dunblane Thistle.

Strathendrick ........... 27 Strathaven ............... 10

Strathendrick came back from a 10-point deficit to record their sixth straight win and remain top of BT West League Three.

For their league match at Fintry on Saturday against Strathaven, Endrick were missing regulars Kyle Campbell, James Cuthbertson and Sam Greenock.

And it was stand-in captain Angus North who led from the front, scoring two tries in the 27-10 win.

They did not have the most promising of starts. Only two minutes had been played when a misplaced pass was picked up in midfield by Strathaven and a couple of swift exchanges opened the way for Jamie Murphy to race to the corner for the opening try, converted by Euan Heggie.Three minutes later Heggie was again on target with a penalty from 25 metres.

Endrick were stunned and set about restoring the situation only to find that their visitors were not going to give up their lead easily.

The Fintry side had a clear edge in the scrum and at line outs but the opposition worked hard to contain them.

A boisterous surge by Mark Scott took him to the vicinity of the line but Strathaven managed to halt him and then had a penalty to clear up that threat.

The home pack continued to push forward and in 20 minutes they made good ground before feeding North.

The new captain who had been in the thick of the action from early on, took off at an impressive pace and brushed aside would-be tacklers to score behind the posts. Drew MacDonald added the extra points.

Six minutes later more hard work by the pack and another great run by North made it 12-10. This time MacDonald’s kick missed but he made amends by landing a penalty just on the half hour.

Endrick were now in control and before the break some solid graft by the forwards was finished off by Ewan MacKay. MacDonald kicked the conversion to give Endrick a 22-10 lead at the end of a hard fought first half.

The second half was notable for the amount of relentless defending by both sides. Endrick, with more of the ball, did more of the attacking but somehow desperate defence kept them out.

Strathaven had to rely on individuals making runs and inevitably the runners suffered from lack of support. The result was that with time running out the score remained unchanged and Endrick had still not secured the try bonus point.

Diminutive sub Ryan Davies came close to making a huge name for himself when he hared after a long kick into the corner. He dived to take an awkward ball cleanly but he just failed to reach the line.

Six minutes from time they secured the try bonus when they nicked Strathaven’s throw in at a five-metre lineout and coach Nellie Callander drove over.

Endrick: Carswell; McGill, Doug Beaumont, North, Anderson; Doyle, McDonald; Scott, G Davies, McKay, Calderwood, Scott, Ogilvy and Callander, Subs: Cuthbertson, R Davies, Forsyth, Moore, Nixon, O’Connell and Vickers.

On Saturday, Endrick are away to Police Scotland Glasgow, kick-off 3pm.