STRATHAVEN v U14 BOYS

Match Report from Coach Paul O’Donnel

Our U14 boys made the trip up to Strathaven on Sunday for a friendly, in what would be our 3rd game against them this season.

The previous 2 fixtures ended in victories for Annan, but both were closely contested games, so we knew we had our work cut out if we were to make it a clean sweep.

With slightly reduced numbers on both sides, we agreed to play a 10 a side game over 3 x 20-minute periods.

Despite being starved of game time recently due to weather related cancellations the lads got off to a great start running in a long range try in the opening play of the game.

However, the home side answered back almost immediately by scoring a well worked try of their own to square things up after a couple of minutes of play.

It was at this point it became obvious that both sides had attacking prowess and the ability to score from anywhere on the field through their powerful and speedy ball carriers.

Therefore, it would be the side that could limit the other sides scoring ability who would come out on top in the end. The game continued very much as it started with both sides trading tries and struggling to cope with each other’s attack.

However, for large periods of the game it was the home side that were able to gain the advantage and at one point had a 20-point lead on the visitors. But our lads were determined to go home with the win and were able to claw themselves back into the game by continuing to score at regular intervals whilst working on their defensive shape and winning a handful of key turnovers at the breakdown.

So after 60 minutes of play in what can only be described as a try fest the final score was a whopping 82 – 78 to Annan.

Both sides deserve a huge amount of credit for the effort they put in and even though we cant attest to it being a defensive masterclass, it was very entertaining to watch.

In attack McKinley (Power by name Power by nature) was immense all game; his bulldozing runs would strike fear in any defender and resulted in 4 tries for the day.

Archie Nicholson was our joint top scorer with 4 of his own, one of them being the result of the most outrageous dummy you are likely to see anywhere.

Lewis Hilton, Kyle Ferguson and Ben Richardson also had great games bagging a couple of tries each.

In defence Max Lupton and Euan Brooke punched well above their weight and showed a lot of courage when tackling boys almost twice their size.

Duncan Richmond was also very impressive and was able to stem the flow of opposition ties for a short period of time through a couple of key turnovers.

Great effort lads and a well-deserved win!! Thanks as always to the loyal band of parents who were in attendance to cheer the lads on, you’ve definitely got your fix of tries for the season!