Wanderers eye semi-final slot

Published 26 Mar 2010 14:00 0 Comments

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CLASS ACT: Back Kieren Smith, above, ran riot in the 62-7 thrashing of Caithness.

A BIG crowd will converge on Fort Matilda tomorrow as Greenock Wanderers host old rivals Annan in a Scottish Hydro-Electric National Shield quarter-final tie.

Both clubs are two games away from a Murrayfield final on 24 April and tomorrow's tie promises to be a cracker.

The winners will go into the draw for the semi-finals which will take place live on Scottish Television's Rugby Show due to be screened on Sunday at 4.40pm.

Annan have struggled this season and are currently bottom of the First Division and look likely to face the drop. They have won just four of their 18 games to date and are some 19 points adrift of safety.

But the Shield has brought much needed respite and they have beaten Newton Stewart and Kilmarnock at Violetbank in previous rounds. The 30-7 victory over Kilmarnock was a particularly solid performance.

Wanderers are having a superb season and are looking to add a cup final appearance to the Second Division title.

Last weekend Wanderers travelled to Thurso minus seven players from their normal squad and with 10 positional changes.

It made little difference as hosts Caithness were thrashed 62-7, with the back line of Kieren Smith, John Stewart and Brendan McGroarty running riot.

President Dougie Sloan said: "I was delighted with the performance last weekend and although the fixture was meaningless in terms of the league, the fact the players put in such a high tempo display showed me the pride they have in wearing the Wanderers colours.

"We will do our utmost to get past Annan tomorrow and will hopefully get a home draw in the semi-final to keep our season going."

First division leaders Dalziel and Whitecraigs are favourites to lift the trophy, but Wanderers could well be the dark horses.

Coaches Dave McVey and Bob Adams have selection problems of a positive kind and once more their discussions will be centred on whom to leave out of the 19-man squad.

The back line have been on fire and Keiren Smith's four tries last weekend mean he is now joint top try scorer with skipper David Watson.

Strong-running centre Brendan McGroarty's early return from injury has also been a major boost and has galvanised an already-impressive threequarter line.

Up front, Matt Gray and Callum Robb will be in for a hard game from a big Annan pack but their confidence levels are high. The setpiece of lineout and scrum have gone well and the Wanderers pack, with Matt Duncan, Martin Lavelle and Dougie Smith are more than capable of going head-to-head with anyone.

Coach Bob Adams said: "We have nothing to lose and we have nothing to fear."

Greenock Wanderers v Annan, Shield quarter-final tie., kick-off 3pm.

Squad: M Lavelle, A McMichael, D Smith, J McArthur, M Gray, M Duncan, J Stewart, A Abernethy, C Robb, A McDougall, A Devlin, D Murray, K Smith, B McGroarty, D Watson (C), S Connolly, L Tyley, G Mooney, G Workman.

Wanderers are sponsored by National Semiconductor UK Ltd.

•All at Wanderers were saddened to learn of the death of highly-respected member Stewart 'Gus 'Robertson, who passed away earlier this week in the south of England.

Gus was a club stalwart and a regular during the 1960s and 70s, when he was a player and long-serving member of the bar committee. Funeral arrangements will be posted on the Wanderers website.

This article appeared in Greenock Telegraph 26 Mar 10

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