Lomond-Helnsburgh 2XV triumph over East Kilbride in clash

By Ian MacQuire

Lomond-Helensburgh got the better of East Kilbride at Ardencaple after loaning their opponents two players

With East Kilbride arriving with just 11 players, the home side loaned them Ewan Hamlett and Mickael Paris to follow SRU league rules to match the numbers on each side.

The away side started the match better than H&L, with the home team uncharacteristically missing tackles, allowing EK to put them under pressure.

When H&L did get the ball they always looked dangerous, with only dropped passes or good defence from EK stopping the home side from advancing.

As the first half drew on H&L started to get more confident, and it was from the forwards winning the ball at a breakdown the ball was shipped to Tony Shonk who ran from his own half to score on his debut under the posts.

Charles Takel converted to give Helensburgh-Lomond with a 7-0 lead at half time.

The second half started much better for H&L, until after 50 minutes when Cammy King was injured and an ambulance was called.

The game restarted, and H&L started to pressurise the EK defence, with a great kick ahead from George Grigg leading to another debutant Lawrence Hodgkinson collecting the ball to score, with Ben Wain converting.

H&L scored soon after with great backs interplay leading to George Grigg scoring in the corner, but the difficult conversion was missed.

Unfortunately there was another twist to this game, when the ball was won by the H&L forwards and shipped through the backs to Griggs who side stepped two EK tacklers who clashed heads.

The referee immediately blew his whistle and ended the game before Griggs could touch down, with both EK players thankfully ok.

We would also like to thank the referee for his superb handling of the match, and Susan Court for her medical expertise.