Match Report from: COLIN WARRICK

Following their first defeat of the season the Warriors headed on the road once again to take on Hamilton in the first return fixture of the league campaign.

With Storm Ashley blowing strongly straight down the pitch the Warriors faced the elements in the first half.

From the start the Warriors battled hard pinned for the most part in their own half by a combination of the strong wind and also the strong running hosts.

However it was the Warriors who opened the scoring when from a scrum on the edge of their own 22 number 8 Kayleigh Warrick picked from the base making good yards before tying in three defenders to offload to stand off Niamh Ross to carry well into the hosts half, the ball was recycled and moved to centre Joanne Clark to burst through the defence and race home to score.

From the restart the Warriors were once again put under pressure and from a scrum the hosts scored the their first try near to the posts.

Fairly soon after the Warriors regained the lead in an almost identical manner when from a scrum pick up the ball was recycled this time for Niamh Ross to snipe up the blindside to score.

Call it deja vu but almost straight from the kick off the hosts took the lead when from a tap penalty they barged over to score.

The remainder of the half played out with both sides making numerous mistakes, until on the stroke of half time Annan managed to turn the ball over feeding full back Jane Haren to burst through two tackles to beat the full back and score the Warriors third try.

Half time score: Hamilton Ladies 12 v Annan Warriors 15

With the wind now on their backs the Warriors knew the job was not done but were keen to drive home their advantage.

However this was not to be, the Hamilton team playing well facing the elements, aided by numerous penalties conceded by the Warriors & the Warriors D line not to the usual standard, allowed Hamilton good entries into the Annan 22 & with only a couple of minutes remaining converting one of these opportunities to score the winning try.

Final score: Hamilton 19 v Annan Warriors 15

So a disappointing result for the Warriors with the performance not to the usual standard in what were most definitely testing conditions, with the number of penalties contributing greatly.

Best in defence were Jane Haren, Lexie Glendinning, Kayleigh Warrick with Shield of the match going to Julie Warrick.

Best in attack were Niamh Ross, Nicole Mullen & Joanne Clark with Sword of the match going to Kayleigh Warrick

Thanks to the Annan supporters who made the journey to cheer on the Ladies. Focus now turns to this weeks visit from Uddingston Ladies which will be another test.

Annan team: A Chierchia, E Jardine, J Warrick, R Parker-Clevett, N Mullen, A Clark (c), L Glendinning, K Warrick, J Graham, N Ross, K Morrison, M Brogan, J Clark, K Barlow, J Haren

Replacement (used): M Cother