Saturday 3rd October 2009

National League

(Away)

Glenrothes U18 64   –  Grangemouth Stags U18 10

Grangemouth made the trip to Glenrothes on Saturday with a squad of seventeen and it could have been more if not for the fact that the talent is being utilised by the senior teams in the club.

Whilst the scoreline suggests a bit of a hiding the reality is that the Young Stags competed well in every aspect of the game apart from the critical area of tackling. If they can get the defence sorted, they have enough firepower and know how to compete far better.

As everywhere on Saturday, the gale force winds were a huge factor and Grangemouth played into the teeth of it in the first half. They did start well and good direct running created gaps in the home defence but it was to no avail and Glenrothes came back strongly to expose the weaknesses in the Grangemouth defence by scoring twice in quick succession. Then came a real sickener as Kyle Risk made a great break and with the first score looking like a certainty a loose pass found the speedy Glenrothes winger who ran the length of the park for a try.

The Grangemouth boys could not come to terms with the conditions and combined with the ineffectual tackling Glenrothes were able to score at will, the half time score mounting to a 52 – 0 to Grangemouth.

With the game already lost, it was down to the Grangemouth lads to restore some pride after the break. They did this to some effect with, Adam Scott, Kyle Risk and Connor Mcfarlane showing the way with some storming runs but again weak tackling let Glenrothes in for another try.

Finally Grangemouth broke their duck, with Kyle Risk scoring a long overdue touchdown. Unfortunately following this and to make a tough job even harder, injuries in the Grangemouth ranks reduced the team to 14 men. Grangemouth did stick to the task and after a good interception by David John Innes, Willie Mundie was on hand in good support to score the Stags second try of the day. Glenrothes did have one final say by scoring the last try but some semblance of order had been restored in the second half.

Whilst the poor tackling display was the memory of the day, special mention should be made of new recruit David Langley who did pull off some heroics in this department, his more experienced team mates will need to take his lead if the youngsters are to make an impression this year. With continued efforts and attendance at training it will happen.