IRVINE met East Kilbride under the lights on a typically dreich Scottish Friday night at Marress. 

The evening started with a great turnout of family supporters, with a bouncy castle and light tea for the kids provided with funds from the senior players.
 
Irvine started with some good solid scrums in midfield and strong running from the backs, and when East Kilbride were caught offside just outside the 22 Craig Williams kicked the resulting penalty.

With the wind and rain in their faces, Irvine put in several good runs down the wings with Nathan Murray showing his strength and determination in gaining good ground.

However East Kilbride are a strong side and came back upfield with a quickly taken short penalty forcing Irvine to give away another, which Scott Shankie duly converted.

Irvine battled back with some strong forward play and were awarded another penalty, which Williams converted for a 6-3 lead.  However some poor defence just before half time allowed Robbie Greenfield of East Kilbride to run in a try, converted by Shankie to give them a 10-6 half time lead.

The rain eased at the start of the second half, and Irvine, with some fine handling in the backs and excellent support play, ran through to score what looked like a good try – but the final pass was adjudged to be forward. However shortly after this disappointment Irvine scored a try through Kevin Lang, converted by Williams.

At this point the Irvine forwards came under some strong pressure, and an obvious infringement by David Kirkwood saw him go to the sin bin. This yellow card was followed shortly afterwards by another for Connor Turnbull, leaving Irvine with 13 players on the field. 

East Kilbride pressed this advantage, and were awarded another penalty which Shankie converted to make the score 13-13.

Some strong forward play and strong running from the backs got Irvine back upfield and with 20 minutes remaining Williams put over another penalty to restore their lead.

Again East Kilbride came back and having been restored to 15 men again, Irvine lost Kevin Lang to another yellow card for what was adjudged to be a high tackle.  East Kilbride kicked for touch – determined to go for a game-winning try – however Irvine survived the pressure and used the wind to kick downfield.

In the last 10 minutes East Kilbride pressed hard and were awarded a penalty on the 22 – this time they took the three points and the game ended in a 16-16 draw.  This was a good determined performance from Irvine and augurs well for this Saturday’s trip to RHC. 

On Saturday Marress welcomed Hamilton 3rds for a Reserve League fixture.  The home side played well with two tries in the first half scored by Chris Saunderson and Frazer Corrance, one being converted by James Armstrong.  Hamilton scored two first half tries, both converted, to lead 14-12 at half time.
Marress turned up the pressure in the second half with John Murdoch bagging a hat trick, and Armstrong scoring two tries, one penalty and four further conversions.  Hamilton scored a consolation try at the death, making the final score 48-19.  A great team performance with the forwards providing good possession to a fast and skillful back line.  Next up for Marress is a trip to New Anniesland to take on Glasgow Accies.


Cameron Crawford