BT West One

GARNOCK 7

ALLAN GLEN'S 12

GARNOCK resumed their quest for league points after a break of four weeks, due to weather postponements, with a home game against Allan Glen’s of Glasgow.

The overhead conditions were ideal for rugby but the pitch was wet and heavy.

Glen’s kicked off and were immediately put under pressure when Garnock’s stand off Rory Walker kicked towards the visitors' 22 metre line. Garnock won the resulting line out and drove closer to the try area but were unlucky to knock on. Glen’s won the scrum and broke out to the halfway line. They spun the ball along their backs and right winger Sean Kirk evaded several poor tackle attempts to score in the corner after 4 minutes play. The conversion was missed to make the score 0 – 5 to Allan Glen’s.

Undaunted, Garnock rallied and camped well inside the Glen’s 22 metre area. They were rewarded for their efforts when Luke Wynn was on hand to finish off a strong Garnock forwards drive to score a try near the posts after 10 minutes. Walker converted and Garnock were 7-5 ahead.

Play fluctuated between the two 22 metre lines for the next 15 minutes with neither side dominating.

In 26 minutes Glen’s were striving to cross the Garnock try line when referee McLean deemed the home side had illegally prevented Glen’s from scoring and awarded them a Penalty Try between the posts. The conversion was good and Glen’s moved 12-7 ahead.

For the remainder of the half play swung from end to end with neither side looking like adding to the score. Penalties were awarded at regular intervals but always too far out to change the scoreline.

The second half started quite brightly with Garnock in complete control and playing the game well inside the Glen’s danger area. However, the final pass always seemed to go astray.

Gradually Glen’s came more into the game and it required some good tackling by the Garnock centres, Jarred Reekie and Wynn, to prevent Glen’s moving further in front.

At this stage the Garnock pack were gaining the upper hand in the set scrums and winning most of the lineouts through their jumpers Jonny Watson and Alan Miller. The Millers, - Alan, John, David and David Ramsey, were stopping any threat from the Glen’s reaching the danger zones but the general play was not of a high standard.

Both sides did try to play attacking rugby but the flow was interrupted by each conceding needless penalties.

Garnock had their best spell from 65 minutes onwards when they were camped within 10 metre of the Glen’s try line for several minutes only to have their efforts thwarted by conceding another penalty. Glen’s relieved the pressure with a long kick to touch.

With time running out, play became very scrappy and both sides cancelling each other out.

The game ended with Garnock attacking the Allan Glen’s try line but the visitors were always capable of defending their line.

Finally the whistle ended a mediocre game with the Glasgow visitors emerging as victors in a tight contest.

With the Christmas break now with us, Garnock’s next game is on January 9th when the meet the hot promotion favourites, Glasgow Accies at New Anniesland with a 2pm kick-off.