GREENOCK WANDERERS v ANNAN 2ND XV

Annan travelled upto Greenock on Saturday with hope that they would finally end their losing streak on paper we had a really good team unfortunately it soon turned to despair as few players called off at the last minute or failed to turn up.

We were down to 13 had to concede the points and borrow two players from Greenock. It was a perfect day to play rugby sun was shining there was a stiff breeze which we faced along with the sun in the first half.

If Greenock thought we were here just to make up the numbers the lads had other ideas we of the mark within the first five mins after a series of rucks Fraser ghosted through the defence for Annan’s first try which he converted.

Greenock quickly responded with an unconverted try. Annan responded in kind with a further three tries two converted, to Greenock’s two one of which was a penalty try which saw AJ sent to the bin for ten minutes right at the end of the 1st half for a high tackle on the Greenock winger which prevented him scoring a try.

Half Time: 20-26 to Annan.

After a team talk at half time Greenock kindly replaced the two players with another two players. Annan down to 14 for the first ten minutes of the 2nd half managed to keep Greenock at bay only conceding 5 points. When AJ returned to the fray Annan upped the tempo and scored at regular intervals scoring a further four tries three converted Greenock scored once more final score 30-52 to Annan.

This was a great result for Annan the lads played with determination and grit in defence and attack.which has sadly been lacking in previous games. The forwards were outstanding led by their captain Callum Taylor. The backs put in a masterful display with Fraser,Murdo, AJ and John G to the fore, Fraser converting six out of the eight tries.

MOM was Ryan Hetherington who was outstanding closely followed by Fraser who was pulling the strings behind the pack. A special mentions to Alan Lee who played the entire game especially at his age was and is quite remarkable, and Murdo for stepping in at Stand off showing great awareness and resolve having never played there before.

A big Thank you to Greenock for providing us with four players, it was a great game to watch and was played with great sportsmanship from both sides.

Scorers: Fraser McMillan 1T/6C. Ryan Hetherington 2T, Wallace Alexander 1T. AJ 1T, Murdo Burton 1T, Callum Smith 1T and Ryan Greenock player 1T