Closing in on title

Published 29 Jan 2010 14:00 0 Comments

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SAW RED: Dougie Smith got a red card the last time the sides met. He will be aiming to play the full 80 minutes.

Greenock Wanderers get an excellent opportunity to nudge themselves closer to the Scottish Hydro-Electric Second Division League title tomorrow with another important home game against Newton Stewart.

The Galloway outfit are languishing in ninth position in the league and an in-form Wanderers should be able to put them to the sword and achieve the bonus point into the bargain.

The assumption is, of course, that the locals can regain the form that has taken them this far as opposed to the poor display that almost cost them dearly against Preston Lodge last weekend.

The visitors themselves still have plenty to play for as they sit just above the relegation zone.

In the earlier fixture between the sides Wanderers recorded a comfortable 28-0 victory at Bladnoch Park, despite influential prop forward Dougie Smith receiving a red card for what legendary commentator Bill McLaren might have described as "a bit of argy-bargy".

The locals just have to steady the ship and, despite two below par performances since the turn of the year, the victories have kept rolling in, which clearly please all involved at Fort Matilda.

President Dougie Sloan said: "Most teams at some stage of the season go off the boil and we have been out of sorts a wee bit recently, but hopefully we can put that behind us tomorrow. I was happy with both the result and, particularly, our spirit last weekend when we looked to be heading for defeat. We now have a home game to regroup and get back on song."

Sloan is a pragmatist and he identifies that at this stage of a campaign the important thing is to keep winning and worry about performance later.

The coaching team of Dave McVey and Bob Adams are of a similar mind, but they are eager that their charges snap out of what appears to be a post-festive season malaise, get back to basics and put in the quality of performance that has terrified the opposition throughout the season.

Adams said: "Our set piece has been first class during the campaign but not so in the last two games. The gauntlet has been thrown down to the pack to get back to basics and dominate the tight phases of play. We have to be secure on our own put-in and disrupt as much of our opponents' ball as possible. We've done some hard talking this week and I'm confident we have ironed out any problems."

The forwards have worked hard this week and they will be fully focused on re-establishing their reputation as the strongest pack in the division. Certainly Dougie Smith will be eager to make amends for his red card in the earlier fixture and Matt Gray, Callum Robb and the returning Matt Duncan will be fired up after a difficult 80 minutes at Prestonpans.

The game plan is simple - the pack dominate the set piece and forward exchanges and half backs Andy McDougall and Ant Devlin orchestrate manoeuvres from there.

Kieren Smith Leigh Tyley and Sean Connolly are all bang in form just now and, given the right opportunities, they will carve open the Newton Stewart defence.

The feeling about the club is that they got out of jail last weekend and it could well be that this will act as a wake-up call and be the catalyst that drives the side onto victory and past the title-winning post over the next few weeks.

A large crowd will be at the Fort tomorrow and all the indications are that the jitters have settled and business as usual will be resumed.

Wanderers v Newton Stewart at Fort Matilda: S Connolly, D Watson( capt), K Smith, D Murray, L Tyley, A Devlin, A McDougall, D Smith, R Lavelle, J McArthur, M Gray, M Duncan, A Abernethy, C Robb, C Clark. Replacements J Stewart, A McMichael, G Fletcher.

Kick-off 3pm.

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

● There will be a ladies' national development rugby meet at Fort Matilda on Sunday at noon when games will take place among ladies from various rugby clubs on an open mixed basis.

This will be under the guidance of the Scottish Rugby Union's ladies' coaches and anyone wishing to try ladies' rugby will be made welcome.

This article appeared in Greenock Telegraph 29 Jan 10

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