Greenock Wanderers slumped to their fourth defeat in a row in their opening fixture in their RBS Scottish Cup Regional Section against Dalziel at Carfin on Saturday.

For the hosts it was a day of much celebration as they recorded their first competitive victory since March and did so in fine style in a game they dominated from start to finish.

Wanderers’ selectors decided to experiment with their formation and, in reality, the gamble backfired as their side was cleaned out at the lineout and struggled to gain parity at the scrum, resulting in meagre rations of ball from which any sustained attacks could be launched.

With little or no possession to work with they fought a rearguard action for much of the match and did well to restrict the hosts to a 12 point victory, although in truth it could and should have been more.

Wanderers’ performance at the contact zone attracted most criticism as ball retention, maintenance and presentation was extremely poor with possession being coughed up and turned over at regular intervals.

Talismanic captain Brendan McGroarty, the main strike runner in Wanderers’ attacking arsenal, was effectively frozen out of proceedings and his contribution was restricted to one meaningful attack during which he made 40 metres for his team. Sadly this did not happpen until the 52nd minute, by which time the pattern of the match had been well and truly established.

In defeat there were still players who stood out and although the general display was inept, Alan McMichael, Murray McDonald, Callum Robb, Louie Hoodless and Andy Love all worked tirelessly for the Wanderers cause.

Experimental half-back pairing Kris Mathie and Jamie Cuffe had a torrid time behind a retreating pack but both are quality players who did enough to suggest that they have a long-term future as first team players.

It was the hosts who kicked off and went immediately onto the attack and dominated the early exchanges. Wanderers struggled to contain Dalziel but showed admirable gusto in defence for much of the half, rebuffing their attacking forays during the initial stages with some impressive tackling.

Eventually though the pressure told and on 16 minutes a series of penalties took the hosts deep into Wanderers territory.

Dalziel scrum half Ross Donnachie showed his alertness and from a penalty award five yards out he took the quick tap and burrowed over Wanderers’ line for the opening score. Stand-off Andrew Scott chipped over the easy conversion to give the hosts a 7-0 lead.

Thereafter the match became a slog between two sides that seemed intent on surrendering possession anytime a meaningful attack looked likely. Dalziel squandered several try-scoring opportunities by taking the wrong option and they entered into the spirit of the match by producing their own brand of poor ball security at key moments.

The second half was slightly better for Wanderers but at no time did they build up any momentum or hold the initiative in attack. Indeed the locals only ventured beyond the opposition 22 metre line once in the second period and that was a spirited drive down the short side of a ruck by Murray McDonald in the 65th minute.

With full-time looming, Dalziel grew anxious to hold onto their lead and redoubled their efforts and managed to secure a foothold deep in Wanderers’ half.

On 76 minutes a Wanderers backs move went awry some 20 metres out from their own goal line. Home centre Ross Westwood pounced on the loose ball and drove forward before releasing winger James Baxendale to blast over in the corner to secure the touchdown and with it the match.

It was to be Dalziel’s day and they greeted the final whistle with great satisfaction and relief that their long wait for a victory was finally over. From a Wanderers perspective though, it simply signalled the end of another miserable afternoon and one that will be confined to the history books in double-quick time.

Head coach Graham Finnie said: “We wanted to test some of our younger players and see how they coped at top team level so it was a worthwhile exercise as far as that is concerned. We learned a lot today and it will stand us in good stead for later in the season. Our priority is to ensure national league rugby next term and we are confident that we will achieve that objective with the group of players we have at our disposal.” Wanderers return to league duty next weekend when they travel to Park Farm to face Dumfries.

l Wanderers are sponsored by Texas Instruments.