Reds suffer the blues after loss
Linlithgow Reds suffered a second consecutive home loss – having seen a three year unbeaten stint at Mains Park brought to an end last week.
Having been narrowly edged out by Royal High last weekend, it was Broughton who emerged victorious in Linlithgow, defeating the hosts 26-22.
In the early exchanges, the Reds struggled to get out of their own half and Broughton capitalised on their territorial advantage with the game’s first try to take a 7-0 lead.
This setback produced a response from the Reds and after clean lineout ball supplied by Neil Lockhart, a drive to the line was only halted by illegal interference with the referee awarding a penalty try as the sides drew level.
The Reds edged ahead midway through the first half as Jack Frame kicked the first of his five successful penalties on the day.
He added another soon after to give the home team a 13-7 lead with half-time
approaching fast. Linlithgow did cross the try line again but Aidan Rennison’s try was correctly disallowed when the referee adjudged that there had been crossing in midfield.
Some stout defending held Broughton out but when the Reds failed to find touch with a clearing kick, the home defence was again undone far too easily as the away side notched their second try to take a slender 14-13 lead into the interval.
The second half started with some good pressure from the Reds with the home forwards beginning to get on top of their opposition in the scrums – which resulted in two converted penalties as Linlithgow regained the lead, 19-14.
However, as has happened far too regularly this season, the Reds almost immediately allowed another try for the visitors. From a lineout, the home team were caught napping when Broughton threw in quickly which led to the defence being caught flat-footed as the scores were tied once more thanks to Broughton’s third try.
At 19-19, the game was set for a tight finish with the Reds beginning to exert territorial pressure and seemed the more likely team to score.
At this stage substitutions by both sides and yellow cards for Broughton players made the clash more disjointed and game management and decision making by the home team seemed to be missing.
Even when passes were made, many were fired at the recipients or were directed behind them, all of which allowed the scrambling Broughton defence to stop any tries.
As the Reds players got closer to the try line, the moves seemed frantic and a number of good opportunities could have been finished successfully if only there had been more composure.
Eventually, with only a few minutes remaining, Frame kicked a penalty to give Linlithgow a three point lead, which should have been defended as they had a numerical advantage due to yellow cards.
Broughton even helped with a poor restart kick which gave possession to the
Reds at the uncontested scrum on halfway but unfortunately for the expectant home crowd, Linlithgow conceded a penalty.
Broughton reacted quicker from the resulting lineout and it was no surprise when they scored the winning try to send their players and supporters into raptures as the successful conversion was immediately met by the final whistle.
The Reds will be aiming to get back to winning ways when they host Haddington on Saturday (kick-off 2pm).