Report by Morton Houston
Boasting one of the strongest records in the West coast Birkmyre are a team that Cumnock had never previously beaten.
The signs in the first of 3 20 minute periods were not overly positive for Cumnock. Despite starting off strongly Cumnock managed to let Birkmyre come into the game and strong running from their talented backs eventually led to 2 unanswered scores. However as the period drew to an end Cumnock mounted some sustained attacks and only just fell short of a score.
In the second 20 Cumnock continued to pressure Birkmyre and strong runs from Dylan Chidwick, Wallace Findlay and Owen Young led to great field position. Captain Andy Houston took advantage first as he jinked, dodged and eventually drove over for Cumnock’s first. The second try followed a beautiful line break from Chidwick. Great support from Ross Marr saw the ball fed to Jamie Caldwell who drove low over the line below the cover tackles.
In the third session Cumnock came roaring out again. First to score was the Mauchline bulldozer, Jamie Drummond, who took 3 opponents over the line with him. Next up was Calum McClownie who was fed a wide ball and showed great pace to outrun the cover defence and score between the posts. The last Cumnock score came from Houston who chipped the ball on the blind side before stealing the ball from the full backs finger tips and racing 50 metres for a score. 4 of Cumnock’s kicks were converted in fine style by Owen Young. Birkmyre had one last score to finish the game as Cumnock 19 Birkmyre 11.
Man of the match was birthday boy Adam Watt who sniped and probed the whole game with line break after line break.
Coach Alan Montgomery said after the game, “ There have been some ups and downs with this team over the season but this is easily one of our best performances. The whole team played out of their skins and it was a great turnaround from the start of the season. I was delighted that they did not panic when they went 2 tries down, indeed they just got stronger and stronger as the game went on. I would like to pick out the midfield drift defence and the individual tackling of Hamish White and Calum Scott as 2 of the main reasons for today’s result”
Next week Cumnock welcome Strathaven, Whitecraigs and Marr at S1 and S2 for our annual tournament. Players should meet at 12:15pm sharp.