Gordonians in cruise control for 12-try romp

Gordonians cruised to a 12-try win at Countesswells where a hapless Haddington were no match for the inform Aberdeen side.

Ryan Morrice’s men have now gone four games without defeat, scoring 185 points in the process to sit nicely poised in third place in National League 3.

The Gordonians head coach said: “We did well to keep our focus once we had achieved our target of scoring four tries to gain a try bonus. At halftime we tweaked the side around, and tried some new ideas. It seemed to work, keeping us on our toes. There were some fine individual performances but most of all it was a good team effort.”

Among the quality performances was one from winger David Ilyine who scored his second hat-trick while centre Danny Usugo had a storming game, adding two touchdowns, a feat matched by number 8 Jamie Dalgarno.

But it was the leadership and drive of hooker and captain Tom Williams which kept Gordonians on the front foot. His reward was a brace against the East Lothian side who could only muster one try, scored just before half-time in a rare attack on the home line when French centre Theo Cestaro took advantage of a lack of concentration.

The Countesswells side led 36-5 at halftime before going on to rack up 38 points.

Additional scorers were flanker Peter Johnston, replacement Mark Marchbank and full back Graeme Crawford, who also kicked seven conversions.

Club president Jim Sugden enthused about the rout but said: “There will be much stiffer tasks to come, including the visit of leaders Newton Stewart. If we can beat them, we can then start talking about promotion.”