Relief for Glenrothes as poor game yields full five points

Glenrothes entertained Harris at Carleton hoping to get off to a better start than they managed last weekend at Thurso.

This was the final game in the first half of the season and facing a team promoted last term, currently ninth in the league, the home team went into the game expecting to do well.

This optimism seemed to be well founded after a mere four minutes when Scott Morrison opened the scoring with a well taken try converted by Kain Duguid.

This however proved to be something of a false dawn as the half descended into a war of attrition.

Referee Steve Mellon was playing a larger part in the contest than he would have liked and drew the wrath of the home team with a yellow card for David Gray, who was penalised for not releasing a tackled player, when in fact it was Cammy Goodall who had downed the man.

Harris narrowed the margin with a penalty kick before Chris Docherty added his name to the score sheet scoring between the posts to give Duguid another easy conversion.

The final points of the first half fell to Harris with another penalty to make the half time score 14-6.

The second half followed a similar pattern to the first with the official’s whistle punctuating the game over and over again.

Harris again brought the score to within a converted try with another penalty ten minutes into the half.

Three tries from the Carleton Parkers in the last quarter of an hour gave a little respectability to the score, earned a try scoring bonus and enabled the team to rise to fourth place in the league.

Barry Crookston bagged two tries, both converted by Duguid, with Goodall crossing the line between his captain’s tries.

In the clubroom after the match the main feeling was relief that, despite a disappointing game, five league points had been garnered.

Daryl Warrender claimed assists in three of the tries but the man of the match accolade went to Ryan Strachan for his overall contribution throughout the contest.

The Development side faced a difficult task at Tillicoultry against Hillfoots who had enjoyed a victory at Carleton Park in September.

As predicted the visitors faced an uphill struggle and were well beaten despite tries from Derek Mitchell and man of the match, Andrew Dick, with both converted by Dan Gibson.

The youth teams were in action on Sunday with the micros and minis enjoying unseasonable good weather against Crieff and despite mixed results having an enjoyable session.

The under 14s and under 16s both came off second best away to Montrose in closely contested games which featured good play by teams from both clubs and were enjoyed by spectators and officials alike.

This Saturday the firsts travel to Carnoustie as the second half of the season gets underway with the Devs at home to Alloa’s second string. Both games kick off at 2.00 p.m.

The under 18s are also at home to Ross Sutherland at Carleton. To complete a busy weekend, on Sunday the under 16s and under 14s face Kirkcaldy at Carleton Park.

The micros/minis face Waid Academy and Fife Southern also at home.