Going Down in Dundee

The Stags were back on their travels last Saturday as they took the road and the miles to Dundee to take on promotion chasing Harris. Grangemouth made a number of changes with McNab switching to hooker, Denny moving to stand off and there were starts for Curran, Scott and Allan. There was no sign of the heavy overnight rain but conditions were difficult with a firm pitch and strong cross wind. The home side made a strong start and pinned the Stags inside their 22 for the opening 10 minutes. They were kept out by some solid defence from the Stags with fullback Parsons making a superb cover tackle to bundle the home winger into touch just 2 metres short of the line. On 15 minutes the Harris centre made a clean break in midfield and looked certain to open the scoring only to be brought back for a forward pass. Gradually the Stags came more into the game and gained some possession and territory of their own. As the game entered the second quarter Grangemouth did manage to string a few phases together. McNiff burst on to a wide pass to break the initial defence before linking with Aspinall. The number 8 carried the play deep into the home 22 before slipping the ball to the overlapping Parsons to score in the corner. Innes was wide with the conversion. Harris stepped up the pace as they looked to hit back but again the Stags defence held firm. On 35 minutes the home side were over the line but the referee was unsighted and the try was disallowed. HT Harris 0 Stags 5

Grangemouth made a much better start to the second half and in the opening 5 minutes had several drives close to the home line. This time it was the home defence which remained solid and soon Harris were back on the attack. After several minutes of pressure they finally managed their opening score on 57 minutes. Harris ran a tap penalty on the Stags 22 and although tackled short of the line the right winger did manage to reach out and score in the corner. The conversion attempt hit the post and stayed out. The home side went straight back on to the attack from the kick off and try number 2 followed 5 minutes later. Harris won a lineout on the Grangemouth 22 and a couple of poor tackles saw the home side score in the corner. This time the conversion from wide was on target. Grangemouth tried to respond but their cause was not helped when Scott was given a straight red card when the referee felt he had kicked out at a player on the ground. The Stags did have a couple of runs at this point with Curran leading the charge but again the home defence was solid. In the closing minutes Harris were back on the attack and their fullback squeezed in at the corner after a spell of pressure close to the line. They almost collected the bonus point with the last play of the game after a clean break in the centre but the ball was lost forward in the tackle. FT Harris 17 Stags 5.

In the end this was a disappointing score line for the Stags against an opposition who are still very much in with a chance of promotion. They were on the back foot for much of the game as they struggled for possession especially at the lineout and at the breakdown. Parsons had a good all round game at full back and it was good to see first team debuts from the bench for Reid and Myles. Next week the Stags travel to Kinross with KO provisionally arranged for 1pm