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Stirling County 15 Ellon 10
Moray Park3 Mar 2009 - 14:45
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Stirling County 15 Ellon 10
Stirling County 15 Ellon 10
Going into this Scottish Cup tie, Ellon were by far the under dogs. Their opponents are two leagues above them, in Premier One, and they are one of the top teams in Scottish rugby.
The fifth round Scottish cup tie was a first for Ellon, playing on a Friday night under lights.
Ellon kicked off, and took the game to Stirling, and they looked good in the opening stages of the game, unfortunately for Ellon, a knock on prevented the early pressure being turned to points.
Against the run of play, Stirling County took the lead when Johnny Hope kicked home a penalty.
After this setback for the visitors, they more than matched their hosts, and even when they went down to 14 men, levelled the scores when Mark Ryan slotted home a penalty kick on the ½ hour mark.
Stirling gave away a penalty in the Ellon 22, and while the County players assumed that Mark Ryan would kick for touch, the visitors took everyone by surprise and moved the ball quickly down the right, and deep into the heart of Stirling’s 22 yard area. The move was broken down when Hope retrieved a dangerous situation with a timely tackle.
The premier 3 outfit were beginning to dictate the game and were very unfortunate to go in at the interval on level terms.
The start of the second period had Stirling attacking Ellon, and they had a try disallowed when Allan Robertson was judged to have knocked on when he forced his way through to go over the line.
Wilba Davies did go over for Stirling shortly after and Johnny Hope kicked the conversion to give the home XV a 10-3 lead.
If the Stirling support thought this would settle their team, they were wrong. Ellon hit back when their back line passed the ball around and threatened to break down the home defence.
Once again, against the run of play, Stirling increased their lead when hooker John Graham went over the line near the corner flag.
Undeterred by this setback, Ellon once again started to play the style of rugby they can play so well, passing the ball around from player to player.
Forward passes and some last minute tackles prevented Ellon from increasing their points.
It was inevitable that Ellon would increase their tally, and it came in the 70th minute when Mark Ryan ran on and collected the ball to finish off a very well worked move. Mark further increased Ellon’s points when he converted his own try.
This put Ellon within five points of Stirling, and made for an exciting final ten minutes of this cup tie.
In the closing stages Ellon were unlucky not to add to the ten points when a break right through the heart of Stirling’s defence should have brought a match winning try, but the final pass went behind the receiving player, and Stirling was able to tidy up and regroup.
A determined effort by a well drilled Ellon side, which was not afraid to get in the tackles and also to pass the ball around should have been better rewarded, but that is rugby. Ellon did have their moments to have caused an upset, but it was not to be.
Acting coach Stevie Park, while pleased with the way his players played, and disappointed at not taking the scalp of one of Scotland’s top teams, can now concentrate on Ellon’s relegation battle.
“If we can produce this form in every game we play between now and the end of the season, we should maintain our premier 3 status!†Stevie said after the game.
There is no doubt, as last Friday night’s game showed, on their day, Ellon are a match for any team.
Going into this Scottish Cup tie, Ellon were by far the under dogs. Their opponents are two leagues above them, in Premier One, and they are one of the top teams in Scottish rugby.
The fifth round Scottish cup tie was a first for Ellon, playing on a Friday night under lights.
Ellon kicked off, and took the game to Stirling, and they looked good in the opening stages of the game, unfortunately for Ellon, a knock on prevented the early pressure being turned to points.
Against the run of play, Stirling County took the lead when Johnny Hope kicked home a penalty.
After this setback for the visitors, they more than matched their hosts, and even when they went down to 14 men, levelled the scores when Mark Ryan slotted home a penalty kick on the ½ hour mark.
Stirling gave away a penalty in the Ellon 22, and while the County players assumed that Mark Ryan would kick for touch, the visitors took everyone by surprise and moved the ball quickly down the right, and deep into the heart of Stirling’s 22 yard area. The move was broken down when Hope retrieved a dangerous situation with a timely tackle.
The premier 3 outfit were beginning to dictate the game and were very unfortunate to go in at the interval on level terms.
The start of the second period had Stirling attacking Ellon, and they had a try disallowed when Allan Robertson was judged to have knocked on when he forced his way through to go over the line.
Wilba Davies did go over for Stirling shortly after and Johnny Hope kicked the conversion to give the home XV a 10-3 lead.
If the Stirling support thought this would settle their team, they were wrong. Ellon hit back when their back line passed the ball around and threatened to break down the home defence.
Once again, against the run of play, Stirling increased their lead when hooker John Graham went over the line near the corner flag.
Undeterred by this setback, Ellon once again started to play the style of rugby they can play so well, passing the ball around from player to player.
Forward passes and some last minute tackles prevented Ellon from increasing their points.
It was inevitable that Ellon would increase their tally, and it came in the 70th minute when Mark Ryan ran on and collected the ball to finish off a very well worked move. Mark further increased Ellon’s points when he converted his own try.
This put Ellon within five points of Stirling, and made for an exciting final ten minutes of this cup tie.
In the closing stages Ellon were unlucky not to add to the ten points when a break right through the heart of Stirling’s defence should have brought a match winning try, but the final pass went behind the receiving player, and Stirling was able to tidy up and regroup.
A determined effort by a well drilled Ellon side, which was not afraid to get in the tackles and also to pass the ball around should have been better rewarded, but that is rugby. Ellon did have their moments to have caused an upset, but it was not to be.
Acting coach Stevie Park, while pleased with the way his players played, and disappointed at not taking the scalp of one of Scotland’s top teams, can now concentrate on Ellon’s relegation battle.
“If we can produce this form in every game we play between now and the end of the season, we should maintain our premier 3 status!†Stevie said after the game.
There is no doubt, as last Friday night’s game showed, on their day, Ellon are a match for any team.
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