Bonus for PL at Sunny Dunbar

From the kick off, it wasn’t apparent that PL were joint leaders at the top of East League 1 because it was Dunbar who looked more eager to make an impact and their high tempo play was rewarded with a penalty in the very first minute. Captain and goalkicker Jamie Peters made no mistake with the kick from the 22 metre line to give his side an early 3-0 lead. Injuries had taken their toll on the PL squad and some of the changes to the pack especially, seemed to be causing disruption in the flow of their play. Craig Quigley had moved to No. 8 and he put in a big hit to stop one threatening Dunbar move but the scrums were not as assured as usual and the home side were claiming enough scrappy ball to be able to dominate possession in the early stages. It wasn’t until the 10th minute before the PL backs were able to put together a decent set of passes and they were rewarded with a try for their efforts. Centre Blair Robertson made the initial break before Jonathan Brash and Jordan Eales linked together to make ground into the 22. Paul Glynn was then on hand to neatly step inside and finish it off near the posts. Andrew Clark added the conversion to make the score 3-7.
PL were making too many errors and conceding too many penalties to be able to build on this but in many ways this was due to Dunbar who weren’t prepared just to lie back and be steamrollered. Callum Champion and Derek Anderson were playing well and causing difficulties when they had the ball in hand. PL always seemed to have something in reserve though if only they could release it, but for that to happen the pack had to start playing more cohesively. The chance arose following a long penalty to touch in the 22 by Clark. The lineout was gathered successfully and often from there, a straightforward drive to the line could be expected, Credit to Dunbar for initially holding things up but eventually the ball was recycled and Paul Voy broke clear and was unstoppable from close range. The conversion was missed but at 3-12 and 30 minutes gone, PL at last started to look comfortable.
No-one had mentioned that to Dunbar though and they were about to put together 10 minutes of rugby that would bring 13 points and allow them to regain the lead. The PL scrum had become more settled but they were penalised for not driving straight which allowed an easy shot at goal from 30 metres for Peters. This gave his side a lift and they looked far more confident again, so when PL dropped the ball while setting up an attack from half way, it was quickly gathered by the home side and they made full use of the advantage. A series of quick passes left PL chasing back in vain and when Alex Brown received it out on the wing he was able to squeeze in at the corner for a great try. Peters was on form and slotted the difficult conversion to give his side a slender 13-12 lead and he was on target again just before the break when he slotted a penalty from inside his own half to make the half time score 16-12.

PL needed to up their game and made some positional changes in the pack and introduced Ian MacIntosh to join Blair Cowan in the engine room to provide some much needed stability at the set piece. This seemed to do the trick and they started to dominate both territory and possession although Dunbar refused to make it easy for them to score. A promising move involving Brash, Jordan Eales and Ali Wood got the ball into the home 22 but Gary Peebles and Chris Greco were alert enough to stop the danger. However, the pressure was becoming more intense and PL were starting to control the ball up front. Warner Easton had come on at scrum half to replace Chris Aitchison and he, alongside Andrew Clark was managing to put the ball into the danger areas. Robertson always looked dangerous despite being well marked in midfield but in the 54th minute, he made good ground and was almost clear before setting the ball up for Paul Voy who was able to scramble over for his second and the lead changed hands again at 16-17.
From then on, PL were pretty much in control despite Dunbar’s best efforts and Voy bagged his third try in the 62nd minute after being tackled but not held near the line and he was able to get up and dive over at the second attempt. The PL front row had been fairly quiet for most of the game but Raymond Mackie and Stuart McLean were more evident in the loose as the game began to open up but it was loose head prop Lee Inglis who stole the show with a great solo try – his second in PL colours – when he ran wide after receiving the ball on the 22 and handed off several would be tacklers before stepping back inside to see his way clear to the line. His try completed the scoring in fine style and made the final score a fairly comfortable 16-29 for the visitors, although Dunbar can be proud of their contribution to a fine game.

Both sides will hope to build on their performances next Saturday when PL play hosts to Langholm and Dunbar are on the road to Linlithgow. Both kick offs are 3pm.

Dunbar Squad:
From:
A Wightman, C Greco, K Gallagher, S Crichton, C Champion, J Peters, D Anderson, B Armatage,
K Courtney, L Clutton, J Peebles, G Peebles, A Brown, G Peters, B Mills, K Main, D Wishart,
K Donnellan

Preston Lodge Team:
J Brash, L King, P Glynn, B Robertson, J Eales, A Clark, C Aitchison
L Inglis, R Mackie, S McLean, P Voy, B Cowan, D Eales, C Dixon, C Quigley

Replacements:
A Wood, I MacIntosh, W Easton