Haddington were left bemoaning a raft of call-offs as they shipped 100 points for the second time this season in Lanarkshire on Saturday.

Head coach Bryan Craig was without half a dozen of the squad that featured in their last outing, in Kirkcaldy a fortnight ago, and the Reds’ head coach was left bemoaning a “difficult week”.

The club were required to dig deep into their resources, with a young squad including three teenagers and 11 players under 25.

The visitors found themselves up against it from the outset, as an early double for the hosts’ Kiwi lock Jerry McKee set the tone.

Robert Brown and David McGrath also went over to wrap up the bonus point before the half-hour mark, while stand-off Owen McLeish was in impressive form with the boot.

Craig Skilling was the next Hamilton player to go over, Haddington not helped by a yellow card to Armandt Pryor, again deputising in the centres and alongside another back-rower, the returning Murray Fairgrieve.

Skilling went over for another before the break, while Martin Kennedy also grabbed a brace, and there was also a try for impressive full-back Craig Inglis.

The county club were unable to get on the board, and they turned round with nothing but pride to play for, already 55-0 down and hoping to avoid a repeat of their cup thrashing at Whitecraigs earlier in the season.

Kennedy made it a brace either side of the interval with two quick-fire tries, while centre Scott Whitelaw went over after some strong running in the midfield.

Inglis charged to the line, brushing aside an attempted tackle from Nils Lindberg to carry the Haddington wing over the line as he completed his hat-trick, before the rangey full-back went over once more for his fourth of the game.

The Reds gave second-half league debuts to Alex Cunningham and Gav Harper from the bench and the tide stemmed somewhat thanks to dogged defending and controlled work at the breakdown, led by captain Garry Cockburn, Ben Laing and Gavin Stewart, the latter catching the eye with a number of big tackles.

And the visitors were rewarded when a loose pass was gathered by Laing and the second row sprinted 60 metres to put the county club on the board.

Hamilton pushed for the score that would take them over the 100-mark and it arrived with the last play of the match, as Skilling completed his second-half hat-trick to end the match with five tries, despite the best efforts of Alex Watt and Mark Robertson out wide.

Things do not get much easier for the Reds, who are six points adrift of safety, as they welcome Aberdeenshire to Neilson Park tomorrow (Saturday).

Haddington: M Robertson, R McLuckie, M Fairgrieve, A Pryor, N Lindberg; A Ferguson, A Watt; G Cockburn, R Watt, P Smith, G Stewart, K Harper, C Harrison, B Laing, C Stuart.