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Published 30 Aug 2010 11:00
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Greenock Wanderers showed great resilience to come from 20 points down to record a victory in their opening National League 1st Division match of the season against Edinburgh University at Fort Matilda on Saturday.
The match was a game of two halves, with the students dominating the first period and the locals coming good after the interval.
A strong breeze which blew the length of the Fort Matilda Park was significant and it was Edinburgh University who used it to good effect in the first half.
The students kicked for position and played almost entirely in Wanderers’ territory.
On 20 minutes, University winger Alan Jardine slotted the first of two penalty efforts in quick succession to give the students a 6-0 lead.
On 35 minutes, winger Jardine created the overlap and touch down to extend the lead to 13-0.
University skipper Mike Johnson then popped up on the left wing to power through two tackles and breeze over the line to touch down.
Jardine converted this effort and at 20-0 Wanderers looked down and out.
The turning point came just on the half-time whistle when a rare sortie into the students’ 22 saw Callum Robb charge down an attempted clearance and gather the ball before diving over the line.
In the second half, Wanderers had the stiff breeze at their backs and the pressure was on the students to defend their line.
On 45 minutes, Kenny Diffenthal knocked over a penalty to reduce the deficit to 20-8 and, on 54 minutes, last season’s player of the year, Kieran Smith, finished off a fine flowing backs move to narrow the gap even more.
Diffenthal obliged from the tee and Wanderers were back in the game at 20-15.
Another Diffenthal penalty success from wide on the left on 64 minutes brought the locals to within two points and, a few minutes later, more Wanderers’ pressure produced another penalty in front of the posts. Diffenthal chipped over again and Wanderers had snatched the lead 21-20.
Further indiscipline led to the award of yet another penalty with the errant student forward being sent to the sin bin. Diffenthal extended the lead to 24-20.
A fine Diffenthal break through the midfield channel made ground and skipper Matt Gray was there to take the pop pass and barge his way over the line with three defenders trailing in his wake. Gray’s effort completed the scoring and Wanderers had staged a fine come back victory.
President Dougie Sloan said: “That was a wake-up call and we know we will face better more organised teams this season. We will take the positives from our performance and that was that we didn’t implode when we went so far behind, but stayed focused and got ourselves back into the game. The boys deserve credit for rescuing the points.”
Wanderers make the first of many trips along the M8 next weekend when they play Royal High/Corstorphine at Barnton in Edinburgh in the second round of league matches.
Wanderers: D Watson, G Fletcher, L Tyley, K Smith, B Wright, K Diffenthal, A McDougall, D Smith, S Alexander, M Lavelle, M Gray (C), A Abernethy, M Duncan, C Robb, J Stewart. Replacements M Standlick, K Murray, A Love.
Wanderers are sponsored by National Semiconductor [UK] Ltd.
This article appeared in Greenock Telegraph 30 Aug 10
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