Physical Encounter at Grangemouth
Saturday 15 Oct 11, the Blairgowrie senior squad travelled to Grangemouth for this their fifth RBS Caledonia league match of the season. With Grangemouth unbeaten in the league and hot favourites to take the title this was always going to be a test of character for the Blairgowrie lads.
From the kick off however it was Blairgowrie who applied the early pressure with forwards Euan Constable, Mark Reddin and James Buchanan driving at the home defence and unlucky not to get an early score. Despite this early pressure it was the home side who went into the lead with a penalty but Blairgowrie immediately responded with Gavin Wynd finding touch deep into the Grangemouth half. From the resultant lineout Blairgowrie stole the ball forcing the home side to concede a penalty which Gavin Wynd duly converted to level the scores.
Having withstood the early pressure Grangemouth came more into the game but some poor tackling by the Blairgowrie backs allowed the home side to score two quick tries in succession before Gavin Wynd converted a second penalty to reduce the deficit. Just as it looked as if Blairgowrie had weathered the storm the home side scored another two tries just before the interval to make the half time score Grangemouth 25 Blairgowrie 6.
From the restart it was the home side who applied the early pressure but some stout defending by Blairgowrie prevented the home side from scoring with young John Cockburn putting in some crunching tackles on the much bigger and heavier Grangemouth attackers. Having withstood long periods of pressure Blairgowrie once again raised their game with some surging runs by Michael Black into Grangemouth territory backed up with some excellent driving by the supporting Blairgowrie forwards. Despite being on the Grangemouth try line on a couple of occasions Blairgowrie were unable to put more points on the board and with the game drawing to a close the home side scored their fifth try to make the final score Grangemouth 32 Blairgowrie 6.
Despite having come up against a much bigger and very physical Grangemouth team and with a number of first team regulars missing the Blairgowrie team must be congratulated on a good overall team performance particularly in the second half when they only conceded one try towards the end of the game. With this sort of commitment Blairgowrie should hopefully consolidate their position in the league but it is imperative that every player attends training on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Man of the match points were awarded as follows; Euan Constable, Timmy Watson & Mark Reddin - all 1 point, Michael Black – 2 points and John Cockburn – 3 points and Man of the Match.
Team: Euan Constable, Timmy Watson, James Buchanan, Ewan Morrison, Mark Reddin, Neil MacRae (captain), Russell Edward, Davie Grieve, John Cockburn, Gavin Wynd, Stevie Stewart, Michael Black, Liam McLaren, Craig Thoms, Michael Grant, Robert Larsen, Alan Webster.
This Saturday Blairgowrie play hosts to Fife Southern at the J J Coupar Park with a 3.00 pm kick off.
Tickets are now on sale for the Casino Night at the clubhouse on Saturday 29th October and for the Club Diner Dance on Saturday 19th November.