Drawshould havebeen awinforEK
Annan ..................... 20 East Kilbride ........... 20
Richard Beaton
East Kilbride Rugby Club returned from Annan having closed out 2016 with mixed feelings after logging a third tie of the campaign.
It should be said though that this was undoubtedly a‘better’draw than those against Newton Stewart and Kilmarnock.
This assessment does not relate as much to the performance as to its significance. In terms of keeping the pressure on league leaders Newton Stewart, it is not entirely helpful but having lost their previous two games, home to Carrick and at Garnock, the outcome steadies the ship a little.
The flip-side of the argument is that it really was a game EK should have won comfortably.
Annan’s glue-pot pitch serves as a great advert for artificial surfaces and summer sport but such was East Kilbride’s physical superiority in the forwards that underfoot conditions should have played into the visitor’s hands, as it were, and to a degree they did.
All three EK scores went to number eight Evan Middleton and covered the range associated with forward dominance.
Middleton’s first was from a short-range scrum driven over the Annan line, his second a catch and drive after Paul Rosie’s line-out take and the third a two-yard rumble following Bill Anderson’s pop out of the tackle.
Annan’s stand-off McCann kept the scoreboard ticking with a series of penalties, no mean feat when kicking out of the mud, but inexplicably let EK off the hook toward the end when he missed a straightforward conversion of his side’s only try.
The Americans do not, as a rule, endure ties in sport and hence offer the parallel of draws being akin to kissing your sister.
However, whilst not embracing the concept on either front and even taking into account their forward dominance, East Kilbride could be moderately happy with Saturday’s outcome.
Granted, they now need assistance from someone else to take Newton Stewart down and get back to the top of the table but second place with eight games to go is not the worst position to be in.
Fraser Watt’s side will return to action on Saturday, January 7, 2017 when they are due to host Allan Glens at Torrance House.
TEAM: 1. Mclellan, 2. Anderson, 3. E. Beaton, 4. S. Ferguson, 5. Rosie (captain), 6. Irvine, 7. O’Neil, 8. Middleton, 9. Stott, 10. Blackwood, 11. R. Beaton, 12. Shankie, 13. McKinnon, 14. C. Ferguson, 15. Murray.
Meanwhile, East Kilbride’s reserves ensured they entered 2017 clear at the top of West Two with a comfortable 36-10 win on the next pitch.
East Kilbride tries went to David Rosie Jnr (2), David Bell, Dylan Brodie, Scott Murphy and Gregor Haggerty, with Patrick Quigg converting three.