Thrilling Perthshire Rugby Club match ends with stirring victory

Sep 11 2009 by Les Stewart, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

Perthshire 29

Musselburgh 24

THIS was a hugely exciting and entertaining match which looked well beyond Shire's grasp until a 10-minute spell before and after half-time yielded three tries for the Eagles.

Musselburgh took the lead with a Walls penalty and Leitch added an excellent try before Clark dropped a goal to put Shire 10 points behind in as many minutes.

Just before half-time, however, Jimmy Whyte drove forward and slipped the ball to Ali Anderson who took off up the wing and raised Shire's hopes with their first try.

Two minutes later, Anderson again showed superb skills as he won loose ball which was shipped swiftly out the backs and Craig Assenti showed blistering pace to score under the posts, converted by O'Connor.

Shire went into half-time trailing 12-13 but, soon afterwards, Pattinson stole good line-out ball and it was spun out to Erland Oag who had the speed to round the cover and give Shire the lead for the first time.

This stung Musselburgh into action and they stormed back with a series of mauls which Shire couldn't destroy and eventually the referee penalised Pattinson with a yellow card and Burgh gained three points.

The Eagles were down to 14 men and had to work exceptionally hard to contain the rampant Musselburgh team and Robinson scored a try allowing the East Lothian outfit to regain the lead.

But just as things seemed at their darkest for the home side, Musselburgh found themselves down to 14 men as well and this spurred Shire on to greater efforts.

Gav Bloice squeezed through a narrow gap and fed the ball back for Etienne Melville to pick up and drive over and the yells of delight from the large crowd confirmed that the Eagles were back in the lead.

Craig Assenti again had the crowd delirious when he made 60 metres before feeding Erland Oag but somehow the Musselburgh cover got back to save the try.

Whyte received his yellow card following a high tackle and Musselburgh pulled back a further three points.

With the score even at 24-24, and Perthshire down to 14 men, Musselburgh scented victory and their pressure yielded a penalty.

Walls gave it a massive hit from the half-way line but the ball hit the crossbar and bounced into play and the arms of Adam Pattinson.

Realising that he wasn't the world's greatest kicker, he passed it behind his line to Assenti who confounded everyone by taking off at pace through the Musselburgh team and he made 50 metres before Simon Moffat carried on the move. But once again Musselburgh managed to get back in numbers and retrieve the situation.

Ali Anderson continually showed his exceptional skills at retrieving ball and this time it was passed out to young Andy Whitelaw, making his debut for the Eagles, and he showed great composure by sending Matt Fay scampering up the line for the deciding score and victory for the Eagles.

This was a superb victory but Shire coach Derek Busby wasn’t happy that his team scored five tries to two and still struggled to win the game.

Ali Anderson was voted man of the match.

For their next match, Shire travel to Dundee where they take on Morgan in what will be a pulsating local derby.

It has been a long time since Shire obtained a victory in Dundee but with a strengthened team and players now fighting for their place, hopes are high that the Morgan bogey can be laid to rest.

Players and supporters meet at clubhouse at 1pm. The bus will leave at 1.15.

Perthshire 2nds came within a whisker of defeating Musselburgh in a double header but a dropped pass in the dying seconds robbed them of victory in a high-scoring game.

Outstanding for Shire were Scott Davies, Andy Elder, Ben Ockenden and James Knight.

The bus for Biggar tomorrow will leave the clubhouse at noon and coach Bob Ockenden is looking for a bigger performance from his team.