Greenock Telegraph | Sport | Wanderers finally off the mark with Fort Matilda win

Friday, 9th January, 2009

Published: Monday, 14th January, 2008 12:30

Wanderers finally off the mark with Fort Matilda win

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Greenock Wanderers 18, Hillfoots/Alloa 5

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DERRING DO: Winger David Watson got on the scoresheet as Wanderers recorded thier first win.

Pic by: Kris Cairns

Greenock Wanderers 18,

Hillfoots/Alloa 5

Greenock Wanderers’ long-awaited first victory of the season arrived on Saturday when they edged out old rivals Hillfoots in an entertaining match at Fort Matilda.

Although still unlikely to avoid the dreaded drop, Wanderers gave their spectators some welcome respite from the drudgery of defeat and proved they are more than capable of performing at First Division level.

The first half was mainly a dull affair, with both sides cancelling each other out, although Hillfoots enjoyed the larger share of possession and territorial advantage. The match, however, sparked into life after the break, with both teams still to register on the scoreboard.

In 50 minutes Hillfoots’ man of the match, centre Robbie Truesdale, burst through the Wanderers defence and set up the scoring opportunity for winger Kevin McVey to sprint in at the corner.

Stand-off Andy Hamilton pushed his conversion attempt wide, but at 5-0, the visitors had seized the initiative and the fears on the Octavia Terrace touchline were that another defeat loomed on the horizon.

The final half hour though, was as dramatic as the first half was dull. In 55 minutes Stuart McTavish slotted a penalty for the locals from wide on the left to reduce the deficit to 5-3 and, just five minutes later, Kevin Murray carved through the visitors’ defence with a superb angled run to take the play deep into the Hillfoots half. Only desperate defending prevented quick release and referee Findlay Clark penalised the visitors for killing the ball in the ruck. McTavish obliged again from the tee and all of a sudden Wanderers were in the lead by 6-5.

Amazingly the purple patch continued and a high “garryowen” from stand-off Ant Devlin fell on the Hillfoots defence, only to be chased and caught by speedster David Watson. Watson took contact and fed the ball to supporting player McTavish, who returned the pass under pressure to give Watson a run into the line to increase the Wanderers lead to 11-5.

Wanderers’ tails were now up and some fine sweeping play involving forwards and backs was enjoyed by an appreciative home support. In 78 minutes some field position was won in the opposition half and several phases of play took Wanderers into the visitors’ 22.

A fine crisp handling move gave Nick Wright possession and he burst through two tackles, going over the line at the corner with another two defenders vainly trying to stop him. McTavish applied the icing to the cake with a fine kick from wide on the left which closed the scoring at 18-5.

President Donnie Cunningham said: “The second half was excellent and the boys really stuck to the task and got their just rewards at the end, I’m delighted for captain Chris Clark, because he has worked tirelessly this season, as have many of the players. We’ll build on this victory and look forward to the next few weeks and the challenges that lie ahead.”

Team: S McTavish, D Watson, J Smith, C Clark (C), N Wright, A Devlin, K Murray, M Rodger, R Lavelle, G Patterson, L Scully, N Patterson, J McKenna, C Robb, A Abernethy, Replacements A Hunter, M McDonald, A Knox.

l Wanderers are sponsored by National Semiconductor (UK) Ltd.

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