Last minute win for County
Stirling nail it in topsy-turvy match
Stirling County .... 34 Glasgow Hawks .. 30
Stephen Brensdon Despite an error-strewn first half, Stirling County atoned for last week’s defeat to Hawick with two tries in the final five minutes to edge out Glasgow Hawks at the end of a thrilling Tennent’s Premiership encounter.
It was a topsy-turvy match and one which began with the visitors dominating physically, as well as on the scoreboard.
Bobby Beattie’s fifth-minute try and five points from the boot of Ross Thompson gave Fin Gillies‘ side a handy 10-0 advantage as County struggled to string two phases together with ball in hand.
But the hosts bounced back in a dizzying three-minute spell that produced three tries from Ally Mackie, Andrew Goudie and Euan Macgarvie all converted by Goudie – to give them a 21-13 half-time lead.
Back came Hawks in the second half to lead before their No 8 Fraser Hastie was yellow carded for a high tackle with five minutes remaining and County pounced to score twice in the remaining minutes to steal their fourth win of the campaign.
“I thought we were very calm in the last five minutes. We did very well to control the game and score a really good try,” said head coach Eddie Pollock.
“The first half of the season is finished and we’ve won four out of five games, so we’re starting to make this place a bit of a difficult place to come to again.”
In reality, the home side made life difficult for themselves during the opening period as a calamitous series of handling errors stunted any momentum in attack. While the forwards did the hard work up front the backs failed to click and far too often the ball ended up on the ground rather than in hand.
Pollock added: “I thought we were nervous at the start. We were very poor at Hawick and I thought there was a bit of a hangover in the first 20 minutes.
“The guys made a lot of mistakes and we gave away a pretty soft try. We then clicked and in that 10 or 15 minute period we scored some really nice tries.”
Mackie’s superb full-arm stretch for the line following a penalty line-out five yards out was Stirling’s first score. Fly-half Goudie converted and then ran in a sensational try from his own 10m line as Hawks coughed up the ball at the restart.
The visitors were caught napping in defence at the following restart and County flew upfield once more, this time through Hamilton Burr. Quick recycling by Peter Jerecevich and a neat flat pass from Goudie sent centre Hughes through the defence to bag the third try in as many minutes before Thompson reduced the leeway with a penalty.
But when Hawks scored their second try of the match through replacement Jack McCready, converted by Thompson and when James Couper went over - converted again by Thompson - Hawks had the lead again by 27-21. Thompson and Goudie swapped penalties so that Hawks led 30-21 going into the final 10 minutes.
They paid the price, however, for Hastie’s high tackle on Goudie five minutes from time. The consequences were severe as they were immediately on the back foot.
Ross Bundy scrambled over with three minutes left to play but agonisingly, Goudie’s conversion strayed wide of the uprights, forcing County to launch one final attack. The visitors could not hold on and their defiance proved in vain as Matt Emmison sprinted in at the corner with time almost up.
Goudie again missed the conversion but County only had to re-gather the restart to secure a hard-fought victory Stirling County: Robertson; McLean, Macgarvie, Hughes, Brogan; Goudie, Jericevich; Chies, Kennedy, Walker, Pow, C Henderson, Burr, Arnott, Mackie. Subs: Emmison, Nicol, Bundy, H Henderson, Sorbie.
www.theoffsideline.com