GREENOCK Wanderers took to the field at Fort Matilda for the first time in seven weeks when table-toppers GHA arrived to fulfil a postponed league fixture originally scheduled to take place in early January.

Given the recent spell of bad weather, the ground was in remarkable condition, which was testament to the hard work done by the ground staff.

The game kicked off with Greenock playing away from the clubhouse and looking to deliver a much improved performance that would entertain the sizeable crowd.

The opening exchanges were evenly balanced, however, following a good drive by GHA, they were awarded a penalty after five minutes which Brogan knocked wide of the posts from a tight angle out on the right.

The first score was not long in coming though and a strong run by number eight Harkin saw him power through several tackles before off-loading to the supporting Jenkins to score under the posts.

Brogan knocked over the simple conversion to put GHA ahead by seven points.

This seemed to spur the home side on and they began to put some phases together and exert some pressure on their opponents.

After 13 minutes they were awarded a penalty on the GHA 22-metre line after GHA were penalised for obstruction at a scrum, and full-back Tyley stepped up and calmly stroked over the kick to bring the score to 3-7.

Greenock continued to exert pressure and their first up tackling was excellent.

After 25 minutes the Greenock crowd had more reason to cheer them when Ally Abernethy managed to get the ball away to Smith from a retreating scrum, and his pass to the intruding Tyley set him off on a mazy run only to be tackled some 15 metres short of the GHA line.

When quick ball was recycled, Connolly chipped through and McGroarty won the chase to touch down and give the Wanderers a try and the lead at 8-7.

Tyley's conversion attempt drifted wide.

GHA came roaring back into the game though and their powerful pack started to dominate the forward exchanges.

On 27 minutes they drove the Greenock eight off the ball at a scrum, and after they had gone through several attacking phases, centre O'Hare sprinted clear to score just wide of the posts.

The conversion went wide but GHA had their noses back in front again at 8-12.

Worse was to follow five minutes later when GHA once more managed to maintain continuity and a good switch in the centre almost allowed former Scotland centre Andy Henderson to go over.

From the resultant scrum a short chip to the corner saw winger Jerevich touchdown with an acrobatic dive onto the ball.

Once again the conversion was missed but GHA clearly now had their tails up.

Two minutes later Jerevich added to his tally with some clinical finishing after some good interplay in the centre of the park, and a huge miss pass from Henderson took out the Greenock defence and gave the winger a clear run to the line to make the score 8-22.

As half-time approached Tyley had another opportunity to reduce the leeway when GHA were penalised for offside but this time his kick sailed just wide and the teams turned round without any further scoring.

As the second half got under way a clearance kick from Smith gave GHA a lineout 15 metres from the Greenock line.

A good catch in the lineout was followed by a huge drive from the GHA forwards that took them almost to the Greenock line before being halted.

However, when the ball was recycled, hooker James Malcolm managed to burrow over to put his side further ahead, and at 8-27 the game seemed to be slipping away from the Wanderers.

With the Greenock scrum under pressure, the coaches rang the changes and introduced a number of replacements which helped steady matters.

However up against a well organised and speedy defensive line, the Wanderers were finding chances hard to come by, and the game became bogged down in the centre of the park.

On 68 minutes though O'Hare broke the deadlock when following some broken play in midfield he managed to drift through several tackles before passing to the supporting Jerevich who scored under the posts to complete his hat-trick and give Brogan an easy conversion to take the score to 8-34.

With 10 minutes remaining, the Greenock crowd feared there could be more scores to come, however the Wanderers refused to capitulate and Andy McDougall was unlucky not to score when he only just failed to hold onto a kick through with the line beckoning.

With the pitch now cutting up quite badly the game was being slowed down and it appeared that we would get to the final whistle without any further scoring.

With almost the last play of the game though Connolly set off on a mazy run from his own half, he chipped the ball over the advancing defence and caught his own kick on the run before passing to McDougall.

He then exchanged passes with McGroarty before finally passing the ball out again to Connolly to score a quite superb try in the corner. Tyley missed a difficult conversion to leave the final score at 13-34.

From a Greenock perspective this was a vastly improved performance from the previous week and there were a number of excellent contributions all over the park.

The backline looked hungry and McDougall, Smith, McGroarty and Tyley worked tirelessly to close down their more illustrious opponents. In the pack young Michael Duddy put in a solid shift on his debut at hooker and Ally Abernethy and Matt Gray led by example.

If Greenock can continue to build on the improvements to their game they will be able to get back to winning ways in this season's remaining fixtures. Wanderers: Leigh Tyley, Michael Frizzell, Brendan McGroarty, Kieren Smith, Sean Connolly, Callum Harrison, Andy McDougall, Dave Paton, Michael Duddy, Marc Coyle, Matt Gray, Murray McDonald, Anton Ward, Ali Abernethy {C}, Alex Lyon. Replacements: Liam Campbell, Andy Love, Louie Hoodless and Seve Giovancci l Wanderers are sponsored by Texas Instruments.