WANDERERS 52 CAITHNESS 7 THE Wanderers bandwagon keeps on rolling after another impressive victory. The visitors to Fort Matilda on Saturday were Caithness and they contributed to an entertaining match.

The visitors kicked off towards the Wood Street end and immediately posted the intention that they would not go down without a fight.

In the early exchanges the locals looked slightly nervous and tended to over-elaborate when the simple basic moves perhaps would have paid dividends. In 12 minutes Wanderers were denied a try when stout defence by the visitors kept their hosts at bay. Again the visitors' strong defence kept Leigh Tylie out in 19 minutes when the centre was homing in on the line. Tylie was bundled into touch by full back Mackay.

It took until 27 minutes before the first points were posted on the board. The locals, having run almost the full length of the park, were awarded a penalty for a Caithness infringement. Opting to kick down the line, Wanderers were then able to secure clean lineout possession and Ali Shearer drove over the line for the first score. Kevin Murray missed the difficult conversion. In 30 minutes, straight from the kick off, Tylie gathered the ball and scampered down the touchline and only a superb blocking tackle prevented the centre from going over himself.

Matt Gray, however, was on hand to gratefully receive Tylie's pass and he gleefully dived over the line. Murray made no mistake with the easy conversion to stretch the local's lead to 12 points.

The Fort Matilda outfit with their tails up were now attacking at every opportunity and it was no surprise in 35 minutes when they added to their points tally after a splendid backs interpassing move. Keiran Smith finished off the excellent move with a brilliantly executed try under the posts. Kevin Murray again slotted the conversion to take Wanderers' points tally to 19 without reply.

Two minutes later, the 37th, winger Sean Connelly darted down the touchline and fed the supporting Matt Duncan. Duncan was stopped just short but, from the ensuing ruck, the locals gained possession and Keiran Smith pierced the visitors' defence and sailed through for another touchdown.

Murray again added the extra two points to take Wanderers' lead to 26-0. With the try scoring bonus point now secure, the spectators were looking forward to a feast of rugby in the second period.

It was no surprise when the locals extended their lead in 44 minutes. Having opted for a scrum after Caithness had been penalised for offside, Wanderers gained possession and a nice backs move was beautifully finished off by the rampant Keiran Smith who waltzed through the visitors' non-existent defence for his third score of the match. Ant Devlin, who had just replaced Gregor Fletcher, added the conversion.

After 50 minutes Wanderers were penalised for handling in the ruck and the Greens were offered a rare points scoring opportunity. The visitors' goal attemp,t however, sailed wide of the posts.

The match at this stage was being played almost exclusively in the visitors' half and in 57 minutes, after Caithness had once again been penalised for killing the ball, the locals again opted to go down the line from the penalty kick. Having secured the lineout possession, a nice backs' handling move resulted in the ball being shipped to Smith who sprinted over the line for his fourth try of the afternoon.Ant Devlin struck the wide conversion attempt beautifully to take Wanderers to the 40-point mark.

Not much happened in the next spell as Wanderers seemed to take their foot off the peda. However, in 72 minutes, after a poor clearance from Caithness, the failed touch kick was fielded by 'Cheesy' Watson who sprinted 45 metres to touch down under the posts. Devlin gratefully accepted the further two points on offer.

In 74 minutes, after a similarly poor clearance from Kevin Murray, Caithness were able to secure possession and they scampered in for their only try of the match. The wide conversion attempt was taken by the visitors to bring the score back to 47-7.

In the final minute, again after a poor clearance, Ant Devlin collected the ball and forced his way towards the line. Devlin drew his man and released Leigh Tylie who charged through for the last score of the match. Wanderers thus ended up victorious by the margin of 52-7.

It is perhaps easy to be critical and Wanderers realistically should have won by a much greater margin but this victory sets the locals up very nicely for their extremely difficult away match next Saturday in Inverness against fellow promotion candidates Highland.

● Match sponsor: Morison Walker Property Management Ltd.

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