BT National League Two

ARDROSSAN ACCIES 37

ABERDEENSHIRE 24

SPIRITED Accies overcame the northerners in a high-scoring clash at Memorial Field.

Accies made changes from normal due to injuries and unavailability.

Jack Anderson kicked off for the hosts. Aberdeenshire won possession at the ruck and their number 10 Adam Blake sent a towering kick upfield . The kick was cleanly caught by Calum McKechnie.. His pass found full backStuart Lewis, who put a high ball back into the visitors half . The visiting full back made a mess of the attempted catch and Lewis who had followed up his own kick, scooped the ball up and sprinted in for the try to put Accies in front after five minutes. The conversion was missed.

For the next 20 minutes Accies' pressure was keeping the visitors in their own half.

However Aberdeenshire ended Ardrossan's dominance when they drove deep into the Accies' 22 and after a series of "pick up and drives " from the base of the scrum, Scott Simpson dived over to score. The conversion was missed.

Accies wing forward Milan Marinkovic had to retire due to a head knock and was replaced by Sam Dagar.

The visitors were awarded a penalty and Accies tight head prop Innes Frazer was also yellow-carded. With Aberdeenshire having numerical advantage the Accies pack were under pressure at the scrum and from a set-piece 10 metres from the home line the ball was quickly distributed along the visiting back line for Liam Cousins to score in the corner.

Blake converted a difficult kick to put Aberdeenshire on 12 points.

Despite being a man down, the Accies pack were playing well and were winning the battle at the breakdown.

There were some big ball carries from Mick McFarlane and Sam Dagar and also Lamont, Telfer and Thomson were chopping and harrying to good effect.

Anderson added another three points for Accies after Aberdeenshire had strayed offside.

Accies scored shortly after from an attacking lineout, when a catch and driving maul was finished off with Stuart Lamont touching down.

five minutes later Accies replicated the move when Innes Frazer drove over from another lineout. The conversion was also missed.

For the first 10 minutes of the second period the visitors kept their hosts inside their own half . Home inside centre Ross McDougall was yellow-carded in 46 minutes and again the home side were reduced to 14 men.

Despite being a man short, the hosts were defending well and attacking.

The home side also lost outside centre Andy Duncan when he had to retire due to a shoulder injury and was replaced by Accies coach Rory Couper.

With McCallum back from the sin-bin Accies returned to full strength and scored again when Calum McKechnie finished off a fine handling move, with the conversion scored.

Andrew Cook then scored a try for the visitors.

Frazer scored his second try for Accies in 70 minutes.

With five minutes remaining Aberdeenshire scored again after indecision in the home defence allowed Jason Laurich to gather a kick ahead and score. The conversion was good.

As the final whistle approached, Accies scored again when Lewis notched his second try and Anderson kicked a difficult conversion to seal victory.