​Howe of Fife move off foot of Arnold Clark National League Division 2 table despite derby defeat

​The Cupar club are now second from bottom and level with eighth-placed Dundee on ten points from seven fixtures, with Preston Lodge, on eight from seven, dropping into the basement spot after a 52-0 thumping at home to Edinburgh’s Stewart’s Melville at the weekend.

Head coach Niall Lear was without two influential players for Saturday’s derby, captain Eden Cruickshank and his predecessor as skipper, Fraser Allan, the latter serving a three-week ban after being red-carded during the Saturday prior’s 48-38 loss hosting Stewart’s Melville.

With Jack Williams still injured, Fraser Greig was brought in to partner Cammy Walker, taking over Cruickshank’s No 12 jersey, in the centre, and James Stockwell stood in for Allan at No 8, with lock David Wallace skippering.

The visitors made an encouraging start with a gut-busting run from openside flanker Kieran Todd up the touchline, evading a last-ditch tackle to give Howe an early lead with an unconverted try.

Hopes were high that Howe would then build on their early momentum, but despite clear opportunities, the same failings that have led to six defeats in seven fixtures this term – lack of retention of possession, poor passing and lateral running – were manifest throughout the team.

Those shortcomings allowed their hosts, despite doing nothing fancy or complicated, to score three tries before the break, one of them converted, to go in leading 17-5.

That advantage was extended straight after the break by a further converted try.

Two Howe substitutions, bringing on forward Jamie Thomson and scrum-half Harry Britten, galvanised their team, however, and the latter seized the initative from a quickly-taken penalty to score, though fly-half Logan Finlay was unable to add an extra two points.

From the restart, Howe failed to gather the kick and a knock-on gave a scrum and attacking territory to Kirkcaldy, resulting in another converted try for head coach Quintan Sanft’s hosts.

At 31-10 down, it looked bleak for Howe but, to their credit, they rallied under the direction of Britten and thanks to strong running from Stockwell, Thomson and right-winger Kenni Gray. They were getting quicker ball away from the scrum, taking better options and creating panic in the home defence.

With that momentum, as replacement Harry Purvis was tackled, he slipped a pass to Todd to touch down.

Kirkcaldy were holding on at that point, and after another flowing move, the ball was transferred quickly into space to give left-winger Max Kane a run in to dive over the line, with Finlay adding the conversion.

Stand-off Finlay was now receiving accurate fast ball from Britten and he took advantage to cut through the home defence to score and take his team to within four points of their hosts.

With a win now in reach, Howe maintained their pressure but their inability to capitalise on attacking lineouts and scrums close to the Kirkcaldy try-line meant it came to nothing.

Kirkcaldy’s try-scorers were captain Craig Hamilton, Jo Dewar, Rory Brown, Robbie Penman and Michael Brooks, with Ethan Murray adding three conversions.

A visit from Gordonians is next up this coming Saturday, with kick-off at Duffus Park against the fifth-placed Aberdeen outfit at 3pm.