Young Stags Compete Well with League Leaders

After a break of 5 weeks Grangemouth were finally back in action last Saturday with league leaders Hillfoots the visitors to Glensburgh. The Stags were missing several of their usual starting line up due to injury and unavailability and fielded a fairly young team. Hillfoots were quickly on the attack and opened the scoring after just 2 minutes with a simple penalty kick after the home backs were caught offside. Grangemouth were forced into a change soon after when Hind sustained a rib injury and was replaced by the veteran prop Carrie making a rare appearance from the bench. Hillfoots continued to press but failed to increase their lead as a penalty attempt was wide. On 15 minutes Scott was given a yellow card for a high tackle but despite being reduced to 14 men Grangemouth almost took the lead a couple of minutes later. Skipper slid a kick through just inside the visitors half and Innes followed up to hack the ball up to the line and was just beaten to the touchdown by the Hillfoots cover defence. The Stags had almost survived the sin bin but the ‘Foots number 8 picked up from a scrum on the home 22 and broke blind to power over in the corner for an unconverted score. Grangemouth hit back and Skipper reduced the deficit 5 minutes before the break as he landed a penalty. Just on half time Hillfoots collected their second score. Grangemouth were actually on the attack inside the Hillfoots 22 but lost the ball and the visitors broke up field with good support play resulting in a converted try under the posts. HT Stags 3 Foots 15

Hillfoots were back on the attack at the start of the second half but messed up a lineout on the Stags 22. The home side swept up field and were awarded a penalty 30 metres out. Skipper’s kick was short and wide but Hillfoots failed to clear and conceded a penalty under their own posts. A quick tap kick saw Carrie use his bulk to barge over near the posts. The conversion was missed. Hillfoots missed another penalty as the game entered the final quarter. They then looked certain to score a pushover try but at the last minute lost control allowing the Stags to clear. On 65 minutes Hillfoots did manage to score their third try. A loose pass in midfield was collected by the visitor’s fullback. He rounded the cover before passing to his winger who scored in the corner. The kick from the touchline was on target. With just 3 minutes left Hillfoots added the bonus point score. The referee wrongly awarded them a scrum 5 instead of a drop out and the number 8 picked up to feed his winger to score in the same corner. Again the difficult kick was successful. With the last play of the game the Hillfoots scrum shunted the home pack over the line for a pushover try. This time the kick was wide. Full time Stags 8 Hillfoots 34

This was a creditable performance from an under strength Stags side and the final score line flattered the opposition. For the Stags Innes had several good runs while the pack competed well despite lacking lineout options. Grangemouth have another 3 week break before they play their final league match on 22 March when Panmure will be the visitors to Glensburgh.