GREENOCK Wanderers were unceremoniously dumped out of the British Telecom sponsored Scottish Cup at the First Round stage at ‘The Gytes’ on Saturday by a rampant Peebles side who notched up 10 tries in the process.

The hosts looked superior in every department, particularly in the loose where some weak Wanderers tackling contributed to their own downfall.

In defeat Greenock had stand-outs who gave their all and up front Dougie Smith, Matt Gray, Alan McMichael and Andy Love battled bravely while behind the scrum Sean Connolly, Callum Harrison, Leigh Tyley and Chris McCarron all caught the eye. The scrummage and lineout held well but it was in open play that Wanderers were exposed by the strong running Borderers, who were well marshalled by ex-Melrose scrum-half Scott McCormick and ex-Boroughmuir lock forward Kenny Clyde.

Winger Cameron Pye was first to get the scoreboard ticking over and he posted notice of his try-scoring prowess in the 10th minute when he finished off a fine sweeping backs move by speeding in at the corner.

It was the prequel to a dominant 20 minute spell of play that saw the hosts effectively kill off the tie as a contest by scoring four unanswered tries.

In 16 minutes the home pack powered through the centre with several quality phases of quickly recycled possession and as they edged closer to Wanderers’ line influential South African number eight Jonathon Swaitek drove over. Stand-off Greg Raeburn converted to extend the lead to 12-0.

A few minutes later and ineffective tackling in midfield allowed Peebles centre Callum Scott to break through and score and on 27 minutes another powerful forward drive ended with second row Clyde dotting down under the posts’. Raeburn converted on each occasion to stretch the lead to 26-0.

Wanderers were shell shocked but stuck to their task and were rewarded straight from the kick-off when a skilful Callum Harrison chip over the advancing Peebles rearguard was collected by centre Fraser Reid and he breezed in for Greenock’s only score of the afternoon. Harrison converted to reduce the deficit to 26-7.

On the half our mark former skipper Matt Gray was sin binned for an offside infringement and shortly thereafter flanker Andy Love had to withdraw with a blood injury to his head which combined to unsettle the locals.

Peebles took advantage of Wanderers’ disarray on the stroke of half-time when scrum half McCormick sniped round the blind side of a ruck to score. Raeburn’s conversion gave the hosts a 33-7 lead at the interval.

The second period started with Wanderers defending stoutly and the Greenock men held out for 20 minutes before the pressure told and floodgates opened.

A rib injury to Sean Connolly further depleted the Wanderers effort and resulted in McMichael going to scrum half and Michael Duddy entering the fray at hooker.

The pattern of the game remained constant though as Peebles piled on the pressure.

On the hour mark Pye once more took advantage of poor Wanderers tackling and touched down in the corner and two minutes later scrum half McCormick again broke from the breakdown and scored under the posts. Raeburn’s conversions increased the margin to 47-7.

On 64 minutes Peebles replacement Ross Brown was sent off for a dangerously late tackle on Duddy but it made little difference as the 14 men continued to hold the initiative and dominate proceedings.

Three further tries followed before the end as the Borderers piled on the misery.

On 68 minutes another text book forward drive ended with Swaitek touching down and five minutes later winger Pye completed his hat-trick when he found room out wide and raced in at the corner.

Second row Clyde notched the hosts’ 10th try of the contest in the last minute with another powerful forward drive and two more Raeburn conversions completed the scoring.

It was a wretched afternoon for Wanderers and one they must put behind themselves quickly ahead of next weekend’s league opener away at Livingston.

President John McDougall said: “We have to learn our lessons from experiences like today and realise that there is a big step-up in class and quality between sides like ourselves and the likes of Peebles who play in the league above. We aspire to that level but we know that there is a lot of hard work to be done before we are ready to compete there. We will focus on our league campaign and that begins with a massive game next week against Livingston” Wanderers are sponsored by Texas Instruments.