Kinross R.F.C.

Kinross returned to league action following a 2 week break by hosting league leaders in what turned out to be a disastrous performance from the Kinross side, and the referee to boot.

With a last minute call off from winger Dave McKay there was a slight re-jig of the team which saw Dale Lamont brought off the bench to start at wing, a far cry from his usual second or back row home.

Kinross started the game well and kept Strathmore under considerable pressure which finally paid off when Spence slotted over a penalty to give the home team a 3 point lead. The lead was short lived, however, as Kinross gave away a penalty in front of their posts which the Strathmore kicker duly scored. Following an infringement Strathmore had a player yellow carded, but the Kinross boys failed to capitalise on the man advantage. With 2 minutes to the break Kinross gave away another silly penalty within striking distance, and having seen the kicking tee thrown on to the pitch positioned themselves for the kick. Strathmore, however, decided to go for the try and catching Kinross off-guard scored in the corner to give them a 8 - 3 advantage going into the half time break.

Kinross were forced to make a change at half-time and saw Smith replace Barnet as he had suffered a broken nose just before the break and could not play on. Following the interval Kinross seemed to loose their footing slightly and allowed Strathmore to score 2 tries without reply. Then just over 10 minutes into the second half tragedy struck as Ally Wood went into a tackle and with an almighty crack fell awkwardly on his ankle, which resulted in a 45 minute stoppage of the game while an ambulance arrived and removed the injured Wood from the pitch. It has since emerged that Ally suffered an oblique fracture of the fibula and damaged medial ligaments in his ankle and is to undergo surgery on Wednesday to insert a metal plate to pin the fracture. Once the match finally resumed the players on both teams were suffering from cold muscles and a few strains, with Kinross’ lack of fitness meaning they were feeling worse of and as a result Kinross lost two more players to injury with Tolson and Tees both retiring injured. Kinross never got back into the game and Strathmore ran in a few more tries - some of which came from rather dubious decisions from the clearly inexperienced referee. The final 10 minutes of the match saw Kinross playing with only 13 players due to a large number of injuries.

Kinross started the game well and can take a number of positives from the first half performance. However, the long period of stoppage meant Kinross never got back into their stride. Hopefully the boys can improve on this for their next league match away to St Andrews University on 3^rd March.

Just a wee note to wish Keith Tolson all the best in his new occupation as a father and also to Ally Wood in his new occupation as a cripple.

Team: I Harley, K Tolson, R Sharp, A Wood, I Barnet, I Spence, D Farmer, S Mullan(c ), A Fraser, C Carragher, T Coll, C Tees, K Bird, D Lamont, F Ross. Subs: G Smith, M Thomson, G Queen (all used)