Late Try Seals Bonus Point Win for 2s

Linlithgow 2s  20 – 14  Lasswade 2s

Saturday 28 January 2023

Report by Des Martin

With the Reds’ game called off due to a bereavement in the Forrester camp the seconds game versus Lasswade became the big game at the club. Supported by a keen crowd which included the matchday sponsors, The Thursday Night Footballers, the game kicked off with the Reds’ 2s playing towards the clubhouse in their blue change strips.

Linlithgow were soon to the fore with Gregor McLean kicking astutely for the corners keeping Lasswade pinned in their own 22.  However Lasswade defended well and Linlithgow had little to show for all their efforts.  It was Lasswade with an attack into the Reds half who came up with the first try through some good carries with their large forwards.

This made Linlithgow try even harder and, after a succession of good plays in front of the Lasswade goals, Stu Young dotted down after a good bit of work and offload from Neil Lockhart.   The conversion was missed leaving the score 7-5 to Lasswade. As half time approached, the Reds 2s were once again on the attack pinning the visitors deep in their own 22. With the final play of the half, Linlithgow crossed the Lasswade only to be held up over the line.  A frustrating first half for coaches and players a like.

Some changes were made at half-time as Ally McLean had to attend to important business, so Stu Young moved into hooker and Adam Scott moved to prop, with David Are coming off the bench. Callum Miller came off on the wing and he was replaced by Callum Lindsay. 

There was an immediate impact as Callum Lindsay chased a long kick from Gregor McLean and this pushed Lasswade into their own half. The Reds had some good play ending up in front of Lasswade posts with a scrum. From the quick ball Eddie Beamish switched in the centre, went blind, and gave the ball to Callum Lindsay who squeezed in at the corner. Try to the Reds, conversion missed. 10-7 to the home team.

The resulting kick off was fielded by Kieran Cochrane, who was having an excellent game with some aggressive carries and superb tackling. He fed Gregor McLean inside his 22 in front of his own posts. Gregor’s strong clearance kick was just short of touch on the halfway line but Callum Lindsay, fresh from his try a minute previously, was up fast to harry his opposite number. He timed his leap perfectly, snatching the ball from his opponent’s grasp in mid air and managing to stay in play as he landed almost on the touchline, handing off  another defender in the process. He then ran 50 metres to score his second try in two minutes! Great try, but again conversion missed. (15-7)

Lasswade were stung into action and brought the ball through our indisciplined play into our 22.  From a comedy of errors in trying to clear our line and with the ball over the try line one of the Lasswade players charged down an attempted clearance kick. As the ball bobbled about in goal, two attackers and one defender attempted to touch it down with no success. Eventually it struck a Lasswade player and a try was given making it 15-14 to the Reds.

The last 10 minutes was always going to be nerve wracking and so it proved. Full of incident, knock-ons, penalties and culminating in an almighty melee where a player from each side was given their marching orders for punches being thrown in the direction of each other.

Linlithgow survived a spell under pressure on their own line, then moved upfield, where Freddie Adcock scored Linlithgow’s fourth try to seal a 20-14 win and claim a 4 try bonus point in the process.

A tight game, full of interesting moments and great adventure and commitment from both sides.  I think the crowd were entertained but the coaches had a few stressful moments until the final whistle blew!

Linlithgow 2s

Ruaridh Stewart; Lewis Herdman, Freddie Adcock, Eddie Beamish, Callum Miller; Gregor McLean, Cammy Walker; Ally McLean, Adam Scott, Matt Sommerville; Neil Lockhart, Pat Bennie; Stu Young, Kieran Cochrane and Eioan Magee.

Substitutes

Fraser MacIntosh, David Ure, Callum Lindsay, Sandy Peters and Chris Ronalson.