EKSPORTSCLUB

EAST Kilbride slipped to a third consecutive league defeat on Saturday, going down 23–10 to high-flying Whitecraigs. EK’s woes were compounded by a serious injury to scrum-half Stevie Turnbull, which forced the match to be moved to a second park in order to be completed. Fraser Stott’s side undertook the short jaunt to Newton Mearns in decent fettle despite last Saturday’s home defeat to Ellon, bolstered by the performance, if not the result.

Unfortunately, the upbeat mood was undermined by a lack of continuity in selection, with a number of changes required. The return of Scotland Under-17 prop Fraser Watt made up for the unavailability of Fraser McKinnon, while Paul Rosie managed his first start of the season, partnering his big brother David in the second row and allowing Craig Ferguson junior to move back one place to take over for the injured Dave McLelland.

In the backs, Gordon Stevenson was given the jersey for the first time in over a year, covering the oft-injured Grubby Blackwood, while Fraser Little returned to replace the suspended Calum Simpson.
The fractured nature of the build-up seemed to follow East Kilbride on to the pitch with Whitecraigs scoring a try within two minutes of the start and following up with a penalty to extend a lead which reflected their early dominance.

Slowly though, EK began to come into the contest and used forward power to create a try for Denis Aitken. A Bert Blackwood conversion and penalty put EK into a lead which they held until the dying play of the half.
A rushed drop-out from Turnbull resulted in a scrum in front of the posts, which in turn led to a five-pointer for Craigs and a 13-10 lead at the half.

As at the kick-off, only one side came out for the second half. JB Timmons fielded the restart but lost control of the ball. In his eagerness to atone for his error the replacement flanker conceded a penalty which was kicked to the corner by the Whitecraigs stand-off and the ensuing line-out was turned into another try.
Again though, EK did not lose touch and entering the last quarter trailed only 18-10. Turnbull’s injury though, along with the earlier loss of Blackwood to a facial knock, broke any momentum that EK had been building and it was Whitecraigs who finished the stronger, claiming the four-try bonus point in the closing seconds.

EK have now lost three straight games, but in a positive vein the teams they’ve lost to – Livingston, Ellon and Whitecraigs – occupy three of the top four spots in the league, and EK were close in two of those games.

TEAM: Watt, Aitken, Mclellan, D. Rosie, P. Rosie, C. Ferguson Jnr, Jones, Bruce, Turnbull, Blackwood, MacDonald, Shankie, Stevenson, Ross, Little.

Elsewhere, the reserves somehow contrived to drop their first league game of the season, going down 10-3 at home to West of Scotland.
The visitors led 10-0 at the half, failed to cross halfway in the second period, yet still comfortably held EK to a single Robbie Greenfield penalty. With the scrummage solid and the Kampman brothers, Stuart and Andy, controlling the touchline, EK had no end of possession.
However, ill-discipline, poor kicking and shocking decision-making all through the team prevented the home side producing any continuity in their rugby, despite occasional outbursts of decent handling.