Stew Mel vs Biggar, 29/11/03

• Click here to jump to Riggers' Review
• Click here to jump to Stew Mel Stats

Squad

The Stewart's Melville FP RFC team to play Biggar at Inverleith on Saturday, kick off 2 pm, is:

Only one change from the team that attracted such favourable newspaper coverage after the Cup victory over Accies last weekend, with Graham Lind replacing the injured Sandy Storrar. The evergreen Mark Paton replaces Lindy on the bench.

This will be a real test against a Biggar side who are immediately above us in the league table, but the Stew Mel players are keen to make amends for their lacklustre performance at Hartreemill on the first day of the season. We've also won our last four games in League and Cup, so this promises to be a cracking contest.

With the World Cup done and dusted, please come down to Inverleith to get your fix of the oval ball game this weekend.

Riggers' Review

I don't believe you can leave snatching victory from the jaws of defeat much later than that. When Woody kicked the penalty to take us to 16-11, we all assumed on the touchline that it would be the last play of the game. Securing a bonus point was the least we deserved after our endeavours. But, when Big Clarky dived over near the posts to finish off Stu Donald's lung bursting run, then Woody kicked the conversion, Inverleith erupted. It was like the day we won promotion all over again. I don't think we'd left winning a game so late since Mark Tweedie scored against Ayr about six years ago, ending a thrilling move which included a Robert Steele flick through his legs.

It worked out perfectly in the end, but we were very close to coming away with nothing from a game we dominated for so long. It goes back to the problem mentioned in previous weeks. We are just not clinical enough when we get into the opposition 22. To have had so much pressure for the ten minutes either side of half-time and come away pointless indicates how much work we still have to do. But that is one thing this team will do. The work and effort they have put in so far this season has been fantastic. There is still more to come from this squad and they will get their rewards on the pitch if they keep putting in the work.

But we won and we are delighted. It keeps us in fourth place in the league and closes the gap on third placed Biggar. All we can keep on doing is winning games and that is now five in a row. We are hopefully starting to find some consistency in our results, if not totally in our performances. We move down to Poynder Park next Saturday in a game that will kick off at 3 pm due to the floodlights. Kelso are the only team to have won so far at Inverleith this season and it was a game that we could so easily have won if we had taken our chances.

It would be good to see as many as possible of our supporters making the trek to Kelso, as they really do make a difference to the boys on the pitch. We look forward to seeing you there.

Riggers

Stew Mel Stats

Return to 1st XV Fixtures page