Greenock Telegraph | Sport | Not such a happy New Year for Wanderers

Friday, 9th January, 2009

Published: Wednesday, 9th January, 2008 12:30

Not such a happy New Year for Wanderers

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FINE GAME: Wanderers captain Chris Clark.

Langholm 26, Wanderers 5

Greenock Wanderers’ attempts to secure their first win of the season were scuppered at the Muckle Toon on Saturday as hosts Langholm put in an accomplished display to all but consign the visitors to the Second Division next season.

Only a mammoth effort and a significant slice of good fortune will save the locals and, judging by their performances thus far, that is unlikely to happen

For Wanderers, the story of the match was a snap-shot of their season to date — plenty of effort but little in the way of controlled rugby.

Tactical kicking proved difficult in the windy conditions and, too often, relieving kicks from defensive positions handed possession back to the hosts, who mounted attack after attack from deep positions.

Captain Chris Clark had another fine game alongside Calum Robb, Liam Scully and Ali Abernethy in the forwards, but it was not enough to overcome a good solid all round team performance from Langholm.

In eight minutes, a Jamie Little penalty opened the scoring for the hosts and this was quickly followed by a fine handling move from the Langholm backline, which swept half the length of the park. Centre Andy Johnstone was there to touch down on the left wing and Little slotted a difficult conversion from wide on the left to stretch the lead to 13-0 after 20 minutes.

On the half-hour mark, a further penalty, conceded for collapsing the maul, gave Little another opportunity to extend the Langholm lead and he made no mistake from the tee.

During this period, Wanderers enjoyed plenty of possession and field position, but failed to capitalise by putting points on the board.

In 38 minutes, a further excellent piece of back play from the hosts opened up the visitors’ defence and centre Alastair Cavers added another five points to put Langholm 21 points ahead.

To their credit, the locals battled away and a fine catch and drive by skipper Chris Clark in centre midfield set up an attacking position for Wanderers. The ball was shipped to winger David Watson and he set off on a mazy run which beat three tacklers. Watson then chipped ahead over the tryline and won the race for the touchdown.

As the sides turned at the interval, there was a glimmer of hope that, with the gusting wind in their favour and five points on the board, a revival could be possible. Those hopes was snuffed out early when scrum-half David Irving finished off another fine Langholm attack by going over in the left corner to complete the scoring 26-5.

Wanderers’ effort to retrieve the match thereafter, became bogged down in the borders mud and the match fizzled out without further incident.

President Donnie Cunningham said: “As always, we can’t fault the effort, but we didn’t play the elements as well as Langholm did.

“Their stand-off, Keith Davidson, had a lovely game and kept us pinned down and we struggled to get a cohesive pattern to our game. The boys won’t be disheartened and we’ll dust ourselves down ahead of next week’s match.”

Wanderers start a sequence of seven home league games as they return to their Fort Matilda clubhouse later in the month.

Wanderers: S McTavish, J Smith, K Smith, c Clark, D Watson, A Devlin, A McDougall, G Patterson, R Lavelle, D Paton, N Patterson, L Scully, A Abernethy, C Robb, D Clayton. Replacements all used: A Hunter, K Murray, R Moore.

l Wanderers are sponsored by National Semiconductor [UK] Ltd.

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