Kelso 14 - Hawick 20
Nov
Another Border derby and another very good sized crowd on a very cold night
at Poynder Park. Hawick came into this match against Kelso on a excellent
run of form after defeating Premier One neighbours Selkirk last Saturday and
the next three big matches against Stirling County, Aberdeen Grammar and the
Auld Enemy, Gala, will go a long way in determining the outcome of this
season's Premier 2 Championship. Kelso, although languishing second bottom
of the table, are never an easy hurdle to overcome especially on home turf
and again this proved the case.
Kelso drew first blood with a penalty in the opening minutes. John Coutts
then made a break from his own half which left his opponents for dead, the
Kelso defence caught up with him on the twenty two but Colin Murray was up
in support to take the try scoring pass, although tacked in the corner, he
got back to his feet to touchdown under the posts which made David Lowrie's
conversion a formality. Kelso then regained the lead with a try but missed
the simple conversion for a narrow 8-7 lead. A David Lowrie penalty after a
sustained spell of Hawick pressure again gave the visitors a halftime
advantage of 10-8.
Another Lowrie penalty shortly after the restart increased Hawick's lead
before a similar effort from Kelso reduced Hawick's lead to 13-11. Graham
Hogg then made a good break and kicked ahead and was up in support to just
get the the touchdown despite a spell of uncertainty from the referee. A
mass brawl which had most of the players involved on the touchline saw no
sanctions taken by the officials and Kelso set up a grandstand finish with
another penalty. It was all Kelso in what seemed like a never ending spell
of injury time, Kelso did manage to cross for a try under the posts but a
knock on was seen by the referee much to the relief of the visiting
supporters. Hawick held on for a very hard fought win by 20 points to 14.
Team:- 1. Ali Marsh, 2. Hue Scammell, 3. Sean Linton, 4. David Lowrie, 5.
Craig Charters, 6. Ross Gibson, 7. Danny Landels, 8. Bruce McNeil, 9. Rory
MacPherson, 10. Dean McCracken, 11. Colin Murray, 12. Gary Johnstone, 13.
Graham Hogg, 14. Lee Armstrong, 15. John Coutts
16. Michael Graham, 17. Ali Weir, 18. Keith Davies, 19. Garry Douglas
