Glenrothes take two out of three

The Stags travelled to Fife last Saturday to take on old rivals Glenrothes. The sides had already met twice this season with Grangemouth winning the league fixture and Glens gaining revenge by winning the cup match. Grangemouth were short of a number of their regular starters and made 3 further changes from the previous week with Scott starting in the back row, Allan on the wing and Clyne at fullback. The pitch was very heavy after the overnight rain making handling very difficult. Glenrothes played down the slope in the first half and were immediately on the attack After just 2 minutes they looked certain to score from a scrum pushover but were somehow held up over the line. When they tried to repeat the drive from the reset scrum the Stags front row managed a take against the head and the ball was cleared. Gradually the Stags came more into the game and opened the score after 17 minutes. McInally was on target with a penalty from 30 metres. Neither side was able to dominate possession and the game became largely bogged down in midfield. With half time approaching McInally had another attempt at goal but this time the kick came back off the post and Glens were able to clear their lines. Half time Glens 0 Stags 3

The home side had the early pressure at the start of the second period and gained a penalty when the Stags backs were offside. The home full back was successful with the kick. The game slipped back into a similar pattern to the first half with defences on top in the difficult conditions. Just before the hour mark Grangemouth finally did manage to string a few phases together but then kicked away possession to allow the home side to break up field. A couple of minutes later the Stags scrum was under pressure near their line and scrappy ball forced Skipper into conceding a scrum 5. This time the Glens scrum was solid and their number 8 picked up and broke a tackle for an unconverted score. Grangemouth hit back and the forwards drove a lineout 30 metres before the home side illegally pulled the maul down. The number 8 was very lucky not to be given a yellow card. The Stags were unable to turn the possession into points and with 10 minutes to go Craig was given a yellow card for tackling a player after not retiring at a tap penalty. With 2 minutes to go Glens converted a second penalty to deny the Stags a bonus point. Full time Glens 11 Stags 3.

This was a hard fought game and the Stags will feel unlucky to have lost such a close encounter. The defence was much improved from the previous week but once again the side was let down by conceding too many penalties at the breakdown and by indiscipline. Next week the Stags have their last away game of the season as they travel to take on Kinross with a 2pm KO