Ton Up Stags Ease to Victory

The Stags were back at home last Saturday as Kirkcaldy 2nds made the trip to Glensburgh for the latest league fixture. Grangemouth fielded the same back division as the previous week but coach Deacons shuffled his pack with starts for Howie, Stirling, Scott and Gibson. Conditions were tricky for both sides on a cold afternoon with constant rain throughout. The home side made a good start and opened the scoring after just 3 minutes. From a lineout on the 10 metre line Kerry was the initial ball carrier before McNiff took play up to the 22. The ball was moved by the backs with Gemmell feeding Parsons. The winger pulled in the last man before slipping the ball back to his fullback for the score. Fisher was wide with the conversion. The visitors had a spell of possession and used their big forwards to drive close to the breakdown. However the Stags defended this tactic well and were soon back on the attack. On 15 minutes the forwards drove a lineout into the Kirkcaldy 22. When the ball was moved to the backs Denny shrugged off a couple of tackles to score under the posts. Fisher slotted the extras. As the game entered the second quarter Stangoe secured a turnover inside the Kirkcaldy half. Good handling in the backs created the space for Parsons to run in at the corner for an unconverted core. Grangemouth wrapped up the bonus point a few minutes later. Once again good handling in the backs gave Parsons another run before his inside pass was collected by the supporting Skelton for the try. Fisher was on target with the kick. On the half hour mark a rare Kirkcaldy attack was stopped on the Stags 22 and the ball was turned over. Fisher kicked downfield and Pasons outpaced the defence to kick ahead and win the race for the touchdown. The conversion was missed. The Stags continued to press and with Kirkcaldy making a mess of clearing their lines Stangoe pounced on the loose ball for a simple score. The closing minutes of the half saw Kirkcaldy on the attack.Denny made a try saving tackle under the home posts while some strong fringe defence kept the visitors out. HT Stags 34 Kirkcaldy 0.

The second half proved to be one way traffic as the visitors tired while the home side were able to turn to an experienced bench in the closing stages. First up Parsons completed his hat trick. A rare (successful) kick ahead by Allan pushed Kirkcaldy back into their 22. The attempted clearance kick was collected by Parsons and he had a fairly simple run in at the corner. From the kick off good hands took play back up to the visitors 22. Fisher kicked ahead and Gemmell ran on to collect the ball and score. A couple of minutes later a move from the base of a scrum on the half way line gave Allan enough space to outpace the cover and score in the corner. Next up it was Gemmell who completed his hat trick. The backs worked a loop in midfield with the fullback breaking the line to run in for the try. From the kick off Gibson had a 30 metre burst before good hands and support play saw Skelton over for his second score. As the game entered the final quarter a turnover in midfield saw the ball moved to Noble. The replacement slipped as he passed but Allan collected the ball to run in from 30 metres. The next score came from a scrum on the Stags 22. Hind picked up and linked with Noble. He made ground before passing to Jaworek who in turn passed back to Hind who ran in for the try. The closing 10 minutes saw a further 4 scores. First simple hands saw Noble close to the line and his inside pass was collected by Jamieson for the try.Then Scott and Christie combined before Skelton was again in support to complete his hat trick. Next Sloan and Hind combined before finding Allan for his third try. Finally in the closing minute McNiff was on hand to score and bring up the 100 points. The second half carnage saw 8 conversions with 4 for Fisher, 3 for Skelton and 1 for Jamieson. FT Stags 105 Kirkcaldy 0

This was as one sided as the scoreline suggests. Credit to the visitors who declined the offer to end the game early and played on until the final whistle. They competed in the scrums but had no answer out wide to the pace of the home backs. The back 3 of Gemmell, Parsons and Allan caused havoc with ball in hand while Skelton controlled the game from stand off and was in support for his trys. The Stags now enter the business end of the season with 3 important fixtures at Glensburgh in February. There are no games this week due to the Scotland v Ireland game. However on 11 February the Stags are at home to Howe of Fife with a 2pm KO. Then on 18 February the title will be on the line when Hillfoots are the visitors for a 3pm KO. Finally on Friday 24 February we celebrate the 60th year of our fixture with old friends Llandybie with KO expected to be 2.30pm.