The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
So near yet so far for Dundee High
The frustrations continue to build for Dundee High as yet again they found themselves in contention in the second half of a Tennent’s National 1 match against one of last season’s Premiership club sides, only to see the game slip away.
League leaders Melrose drew first blood with a Lewis Mellis try converted by Donald Crawford then Crawford intercepted a long way from the Dundee line but got there.
A penalty and a try from Craig Shearer got Dundee back into the game at 14-8.
An unconverted Craig Fairbairn try edged Melrose further ahead but Sean Gould converted his own try and the four-point margin gave hope.
That was extinguished when Melrose stretched away in the latter stages and tries from Tom Brown and Trystan Andrews gave the Borderers a 29-15 win and maximum points, leaving Dundee at the bottom of the table.
An almighty arm wrestle was the order of the day at Bladnoch where Newton Stewart awaited Kirkcaldy, and the home side led at the break from two Jamie Gaw penalties.
Kirkcaldy did the minimum required to take the points, a Connor Wood try converted by Finlay Smith just enough to give them the win by the narrowest of margins, the 7-6 scoreline itself summing up the game.
The win sees Kirkcaldy in seventh in National 2.
At one point, it looked as though Perthshire were going to spring a real surprise at Duffus Park, going into an 18-10 half-time lead, but the home side hit back to take the spoils in a highly entertaining clash.
A Jonny Armitt penalty put Shire ahead then Graham Thomson crossed for Howe of Fife only for Kieran Ramsay’s try to swing the advantage back to the visitors.
Jamie Thomson restored the Howe lead but Armitt’s penalty and conversion of Murray Ormiston’s try took the visitors in ahead.
A second Graham Thomson try converted by Ned Wright then tries by Ryan Hood, Jamie Thomson and Wright saw Howe hustle in 24 unanswered points and although Stevie Gray and Scott Alcorn nicked tries for Shire, Wright had brought his tally up to 14 with his second try and Howe won 39-30.
It has been a long time since Strathmore have lost a league match at Inchmacoble – April 2018 – but second-placed Ardrossan Accies did for them with a 36-26 win, again in a match where Strathie made a major contribution but came away empty handed.
Andrew Burgess and Blair Butchart had a couple of tries each.
Butchart slotted a couple of penalties and although they collected the try bonus, Strathie were left ruing those missed conversions which could have earned another point.