East Lothian Courier | Sport | Rugby round-up: Patterson seals dramatic PL win

Published: Thursday, 27th September, 2007 12:30

Rugby round-up: Patterson seals dramatic PL win

Preston Lodge 20 - Langholm 17

GRAEME PATTERSON was the hero for Preston Lodge after kicking an injury-time penalty to secure victory and move his side up to fourth place in National Division 1.

Langholm were heading for a win until two minutes from time when Cammy McLean tied the scores at 17-all with a try and Patterson heaped misery on the visitors with the match-winning kick.

The sizeable crowd expected a close game at the Pennypit on Saturday and that’s exactly what was delivered by both teams in a tense affair.

Langholm took the lead with a penalty early on which was converted by Ritchie in front of the posts, but the ever-improving PL second row Blair Cowan drove over for a try to put the home side in the driving seat. Andrew Clark missed the conversion.

Clark made amends minutes later when he sent a penalty into touch at Langholm’s five metre line. The forwards needed no encouragement to press and Cowan comfortably won the line-out before handing back to prop Keith Duncan who was helped over the line for the second try.

Ritchie was successful with another penalty for the visitors immediately after the restart to take the score to 10-6 with only nine minutes on the clock, but there was to be no more scoring in a scrappy first half.

The second half kicked off in dramatic fashion as tempers flared and Langholm lock Graham was immediately red carded by the referee for inappropriate use of his head.

But PL’s one-man advantage didn’t last long when Paul Voy was sent to the sin-bin for 10 minutes after preventing a Langholm player from playing the ball.

Several lengthy stoppages for injuries extended Voy’s absence to around 15 minutes, much to the crowd’s displeasure and before his return, PL lost Clark with a hand injury and Langholm scored an easy try when scrum-half Hislop eased through a gap to take the score to 10-17 after 20 minutes.

PL were the cause of much of their own problems as the penalty count against them rose, but captain Johnny Morrison took control and rallied his troops to get their focus back.

Morrison and a refreshed Voy led from the front as another line-out was won comfortably and drove the pack to the line where McLean emerged with the ball to force himself over the line. The conversion tied the match with two minutes remaining.

An attempted drop goal was well wide of the posts, but PL stuck to their tried and trusted game plan. The forwards regained possession and inched their way forward until the pressure was eventually too great.

Langholm’s captain was spotted offside by the referee and Patterson made no mistake in front of the posts with the penalty award.

Biggar 11 - Haddington 18

THE Premier Division 2 honeymoon period is still going strong for Haddington who stretched their winning run to four out of four against Biggar on Saturday.

Haddington faced another tough away fixture at Hartreemill knowing how big a task it was against a formidable forward pack and another unbeaten side.

But by the end of the game Haddington had answered any doubters about how they would match up against a solid Biggar outfit expected to win on their home patch.

There was a strong wind blowing down the pitch which was always going to play a major factor on the outcome of this match, and Haddington had to play with the wind in the first half.

The Scarlets started sprightly taking the game to their hosts and their first try came after 12 minutes after the alert Jamie Peters moved the ball wide for Brock Gibbons to hit the line at pace and score wide out. The conversion was missed.

Biggar tried to use their forward pack to drive into the heart of Haddington, but the defence stood firm with No.8 Nico Maybury revelling in the bruising encounters.

Peters increased the lead to 11-0 from two penalties as Haddington controlled the play comfortably by stretching the home defence.

Callum Mark and Donald Snodgrass were posing a major threat to Biggar before Mark Morrison pounced on a loose ball from a line-out and dived over for try number two.

Peters made no mistake with the conversion, but Biggar scored a penalty to make it 18-3 at half-time.

The second half was very scrappy and three players were sent to the sin-bin – two of them from Haddington.

Biggar eventually scored a try with 15 minutes remaining as they pinned Haddington back, but they could only manage another penalty as the Scarlets held out.

Cartha QP 18 - Musselburgh 22

MUSSELBURGH got their Premier 2 league campaign back on track with a spirited win on the road to Cartha Queen’s Park.

The home side gained the advantage with a successful penalty in the fourth minute from White, but Burgh quickly stormed back to surprise their hosts with a neat try.

Talac stole ball and rumbled before feeding Clark who touched down over the try linefollowing a mazy run on 10 minutes.

Wells converted the kick for a 7-3 Burgh lead.

The visitors were looking good as they pressurised Cartha and they drew further in front five minutes later whenWells slotted a penalty for a line-out offence.

Musselburgh were in the mood and on the hunt for more points to consolidate their lead, but the score remained 10-3 at the half-time whistle.

Cartha came out determined in the second half, but couldn’t penetrate the Burgh line and it was the visitors who scored again to increase their lead.

Nine minutes into the second half Linton, Clark and Wells exchanged passes from a McBride line-out and fed Cook. The centre surged through only to be stopped by a tackle when he popped the ball to Jamieson who dotted down. The conversion failed, but Burgh were now 12 points ahead.

But Cartha hit back two minutes later from a scrum when Manning and Loakman led the charge for skipper McCrossan to score. White converted to being it back to 15-10.

And they drew level before the final quarter following when they won a penalty and advanced 10 metres for unsolicited chat. The line-out ball was driven and Peyton applied downward pressure for the try.

Cartha then took the lead from another penalty five minutes later for a high tackle, but Burgh claimed the points from a try with 10 minutes to go.

Musselburgh stole the ball and drove from a Cartha scrum and forwards and backs took it on for McIntosh to plunge over with a Wells conversion.

Hawick Linden 27 - Dunbar 22

A HOST of mistakes from a patched-up Dunbar side gifted Hawick Linden the points on Saturday.

Injuries to a number of regular Dunbar players enforced wholesale positional changes in the squad, but it was Dunbar who started the match the brighter of the two by putting Hawick under immediate pressure from the first whistle.

And they took an early lead after a series of strong forward drives inside the Hawick 22 metre area was followed up with a try from Chris Greco who crashed over the line. Keiran Donellan added the conversion.

Outstanding individual play by Hawick’s stand-off and captain, Brian Wear, saw the home side level the scores when he sidestepped his way from the 10 metre line to go in under the posts with Steven Beattie converting.

Minutes later, a speculative kick ahead by Wear took a wicked bounce on the Dunbar try-line and lock forward Keith Murray was on hand to touch down to increase their lead. Beattie again added the conversion points.

The visitors returned to driving forward with the pack and Colin Stewart broke free to score an brilliantly worked try in the corner.

But man-of-the-match Wear took matters into his own hands and burst through flailing Dunbar tackles to touch down again under the posts to give Beattie an easy conversion for the half-time lead.

Dunbar were first to score through a Donnellan penalty in the second half and an exciting passage of play saw Alan McNellis bursting through for a try.

Dunbar closed the gap to two points when Donellan converted a penalty for offside with 15 minutes left, but Beattie scored another penalty to put the match beyond doubt.

North Berwick 15 - Broughton 16

Ill-discipline and poor decision making thwarted what should have been a comfortable win at home for North Berwick who were beaten by a single point from the last kick of the game.

North Berwick exerted pressure from the start but Broughton took the lead from a penalty with their first attack.

Waldman secured NB’s first try after 20 minutes before going behind again from a penalty, but their lead was restored after a charged-down kick and score from scrum-half Spence (pictured above) to make it 10- 6.

Dudgeon scored another try for NB, and with five minutes to go, they looked in control until the visitors pulled a try back.

Broughton were then gifted a penalty which they duly kicked to win the match.

Penicuik 10 - Ross High 6

ROSS HIGH are finding life in the East League tough after their second defeat in three games.

The Tranent side were expected to be one of the favourites to go straight back up to the National League after relegation last year, but on current form it looks as though the club will do well to finish in the top half of the table.

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