Saturday23 rd September 2006

Dalziel arrived at Fort Matilda in a confident mood after beating Royal High the previous week and were seeking a second win of the season.
In excellent playing conditions and watched by a sizeable crowed both teams made it clear they were going to run the ball. Dalziel with some excellent possession began to push into the Greenock half and were awarded a penalty after the Greenock forwards killed the ball. Hill slotted the penalty and put the visitors 3 nil ahead.
Greenock scrum half Wright began to make some breaks and some week covering of the blind side allowed him to make it to Dalziels 22 line before being stopped by a covering tackle by Turnbull and Beer.
Dalziel rallied again and after some good build up play Dalziel winger Czarnocki went over in the corner to take the lead to 8 nil.
Within 10 minutes Greenock were on the score sheet after some poor defensive work the Greenock centre Smith crashed over under the posts. The conversion was however missed and Dalziel went into half time leading 8-5.
At the start of the second half Dalziel again began to press Greenock with some good forward play lead by Beer and Strain only for Greenock to again infringe and allow Hill to have another go at a penalty. The ball sailed wide and the chance to increase the lead was lost.
After the restart some good back play resulted in Czarnocki being released down his wing. Good covering by Greenock however stopped him short. This seemed to hearten Greenock who then began to control the game with some good forward play, which culminated in a try for their forwards.
Now losing 10-8 Dalziel had to get back in the game but some loose play by Simmons and Mathieson gifted the ball to Greenock and their winger Wright outpaced the covering defence to score their third try. Fortunately for Dalziel the conversion was again missed and they still had a chance to take the game.
With 2minutes to go Hill made a great break from defence and passed to Strain who had supported. With only the Greenock full back to beat he drew him and gave a lovely pass to Mathieson only for the centre to have overrun his prop and the ball was spilled.
This was the last chance for Dalziel and the final whistle saw them beaten for the fourth time this season and are now second bottom of the league. With some very poor performances among the players and return from injury for some others the Dalziel coaches will have a difficult team selection for next weeks home game against East Kilbride.


Dalziel 2ndXV had an excellent victory against Greenock 2nd’s winning 39-17. There were some very good individual performances and a hat trick of tries for Wylie. This gives the first team coach’s food for thought for next week’s selection