ANNAN 2ND XV V WEST OF SCOTLAND

On Saturday 13th December a fired up Simon Dix led his team onto the heavy pitch at Violetbank.

The opponents were top of the league West of Scotland. and arrived with a squad of 20 against Annan’s squad of 19 players.

Annan started well. Playing against a strong wind. Captain Dix led from the front with sniping runs and cheeky tap penalties.

The front row of Wilson, Mackay and Armstrong were impressive at scrum time and the second row of Hodgson and (MOM) Nicholson provided plenty of power. The back row of Smith,Vivers and Morrison were simply everywhere.

The tackling was solid and fly half McGreevy took all the right options. No daft passes and moving the ball when opportunities arose.

Late on West did score two unconverted tries. But they had to work hard for it.

Half time score: Annan 0 West of Scotland 10.

In the Second Half the weather conditions favoured Annan and hopes were high.

Unfortunately Dix then took a knock and Annan simply didn’t have another back to put on the pitch. Alan Rae was moved to scrum half and Drew Thorburn tried his hand at full back.

Another injury meant James Wilkinson found himself on the wing.

The visitors ran in another 4 tries with one converted to give a full time score of Annan 0 West of Scotland 32. So I guess the lesson of this match for Annan is travel with numbers!

Congratulations to West of Scotland and many thanks for making the journey.

Annan can now enjoy Christmas and New year before their next league match on 10th January away to Alan Glens.

Team: 1) Grant Wilson 2) John Mackay 3) Sean Armstrong 4) Hayden Hodgson 5) Oban Nicholson 6) Callum Smith 7) Jack Vivers
8) James Morrison 9) Simon Dix (C) 10) Andrew McGreevy 11) Jack Ogilvie 12) Ewan Campbell 13) Ben Conroy 14) Aaron Kirkup 15) Alan Rae 16) Craig Stefaniuk 17) James Wilkinson 18) Kelum Smith19) Drew Thorburn (All reserves used)