On a bright day at Violetbank, home of Annan RFC, East Kilbride (EK) kicked off and launched an early assault on the home team's line. Strong running from Gary (Gump) Thornton and Evan Middleton took the game to Annan, but it was Richie Murray that broke the deadlock when he weaved his way through the defence to touch down between the posts. Rory Blackwood's conversion gave EK the lead 5 minutes into the game. Rory extended this lead with a penalty conversion five minutes later before Annan struck back with a penalty conversion of their own. Justin Ludick rounded off the first quarter of the game with a classic scrum half try as he took the ball from a ruck close to the home line and dived over. Rory Blackwood converted. During the final 10 minutes of the half the crown were treated to a bit of a try first. A break by George Fisher created an opening for Lucas Aitken to score between the posts. Annan struck back with a converted try before George Fisher claimed his first try of the afternoon. Rory Blackwood converted both of the EK tries before Annan rounded off the half with an unconverted try.

Turning round with a 16 point advantage EK was in the driving seat and when Rory Blackwood crossed for a try which he converted EK's position looked pretty secure. Annan countered with an unconverted try before, with less than ten minutes of the half played, following a handling move involving Rory Blackwood and Owen Selfridge, George Fisher touched down for his second try which was unconverted. With the score at Annan 20, East Kilbride 43, EK might be excused (they're not) for thinking that the game was won. Spurred on by a vociferous home support Annan scored 4 tries in 20 minutes, the last of which resulted from an interception close to their own line, which, with 3 conversions gave them a 3 point lead. With time running out EK went back on the attack. A penalty at the set piece was followed with a kick to touch from which EK set up a maul. Annan offended and EK kicked to touch again and repeated the process. As the maul rolled towards the Annan line the referee signalled that they had committed a penalty offence - free ball EK. It was Juan-Lee Hodgkinson that took full advantage of the situation as he burrowed over the home team's goal line to score. With around 90 seconds remaining on the clock Rory Blackwood took full advantage of the 2 minutes allowed for taking the conversion before slotting the kick to give EK the victory they so nearly squandered.

EK can take a lot of positives from this hard won match. Two academy graduates took the field, Evan McKelvie in the back row from the start and Logan McGeogh joined the fray as a replacement in the second half. At the other end of the age spectrum the two Craig Fergusons came on to the field as replacements and while not displaying the panache of their early years made a useful contribution to the team effort. The back division handled skilfully but it was the pack that had the final say. Set piece domination made things difficult for Annan and in the final analysis it was this domination that provided the scrum penalty that provided the position from which Juan-Lee Hodgkinson scored the try that saved the team's blushes. A player who was key to this domination was Alistair Marriott. On the day it was not only his set piece but also his work in the field, sound tackling, effective jackling and good handling made him the coaches choice as EK player of the match.

With 5 league points bagged in this game EK leap frogged both Cumnock and Annan to move into position 6 in Arnold Clark West Region Division 1 (Men's). With 2 home league games to play - Cambuslang on May 3rd and Oban Lorne on May 10th - EK can still attain their aim of a 4th place finish to the campaign. Before then, however, EK will meet Lenzie in the final of the SRU National Shield at Murrayfield. In two league games Lenzie have run out victors so next Saturday (19th April) EK has an opportunity to turn the tables. Let's bring the silverware back to Torrance House!