Poor show in Wee County

Grangemouth opened their league programme last Saturday as they made the short trip across the Forth to take on local rivals Alloa. The Stags were missing a few players due to injury and unavailability but still fielded a strong side. Grangemouth made an excellent start and scored after just 3 minutes. Alloa conceded a couple of early penalties and the Stags gained a lineout deep in the home 22. The ball was cleanly caught by McFarlane and the pack drove over the line with Jamieson collecting the touchdown. The conversion was wide. Alloa hit back immediately and reduced the deficit with a simple penalty after Grangemouth were caught offside. The home side continued to press and took the lead a couple of minutes later. The ball was switched blind from a ruck in midfield and the Alloa prop burst through a couple of attempted tackles to score an unconverted try in the corner. The Stags were struggling to get into the game and the home side increased their lead on 15 minutes. The initial defence was good but the loose ball was collected by the Alloa centre who raced in from 20 metres for a converted score. As the game entered the second quarter Alloa added another penalty to increase their lead. Grangemouth then missed an easy kick in front of the posts. The half finished with Grangemouth attacking strongly but all they could show for their efforts was a penalty from Herron. HT Alloa 18 Stags 8

The first score of the second half was always going to be crucial and it fell to the home side. The initial attack was stopped after Aspinall ripped the ball clear as the Alloa player dived over the line. However from the resultant scrum the ball was turned over and one of the home forwards drove over from close range. The conversion from wide out was successful. Grangemouth finally awoke from their slumbers and soon after another lineout drive took play up to the line for hooker Forrest to score. Again the kick was unsuccessful. The lead was reduced further on 63 minutes. McFarlane pounced on a loose ball to gallop 20 metres up the line. When the ball was moved wide the Stags created a huge overlap and Herron crossed easily for an unconverted try. With the lead down to 7 points Alloa began to panic and lost a man to the sin bin. However with 10 minutes to go the home side increased their lead and gained the important bonus point try. Grangemouth missed touch with a penalty and Alloa launched a counter attack from deep. A well judged cross kick bounced nicely for the chasing attackers and the ball was collected by the Alloa player who ran round under the posts for a converted try. With 5 minutes left the Stags collected their 4th try with another lineout drive. This time Binnie collected the touchdown. Crucially the conversion was again wide and despite pressing till the end of the game the Stags were unable to narrow the gap for a losing bonus point. Full time 32 -23.

This was a very disappointing performance and result for the Stags. They made too many basic errors with missed tackles, dropped balls and poor kicking. Next week the Stags travel to St. Andrews to take on Madras with KO 3pm. Grangemouth 2nds were left without a game as local rivals Falkirk were unable to field a team and withdrew from Midland Division 3 East.