On a bright Saturday afternoon at the Torrance House Arena Dalziel, the visitors from Motherwell, kicked off. The ball was successfully fielded and the subsequent kick into Dalziel territory was mis-fielded giving East Kilbride (EK) put-in to the scrum in the opposition half. Dalziel's scrummaging power was immediately apparent as the EK pack was put into reverse gear. EK did hold on to the ball only to hand it back to Dalziel when knocking on in what might have a provided a promising start to the game. From the point on the visitors dominated the first half. Their first two tries came on 11 and 21 minutes respectively before the scored three in quick succession on 28, 32 and 35 minutes. EK's attempts to fight back failed to produce the sought for score and it was Dalziel that rounded off the half with their 6th try. All tries having been converted the teams turned round with the score at EK 0, Dalziel 42.

With Dalziel firmly in control at the restart EK's principal task was to make sure that they did not suffer their biggest defeat of the year. As it was Dalziel scored three more tries (two converted), 10, 12 and 30 minutes into the half. With twenty minutes of the game remaining EK had their best period of play, but it was never quite enough to get even a consolation score as, though very close, they did not manage to break through a stubborn Dalziel defence.

With 7 league fixtures fulfilled Dalziel sit in the promotion spot with 31 points, while EK are second from the bottom with 7. In this game the difference between the teams was evident as Dalziel played with confidence and purpose while this young, and largely inexperienced EK team struggled to hold on to the ball and get cohesion and continuity. Our EK player of the match, voted by senior members of the EK support, is Alistair Marriott.

Next week EK travel the short distance to Coates Park to play local rivals, Cambuslang (KO 2 p.m.). After a difficult start to their season Cambuslang had experienced a resurgence in recent weeks so EK will have to be on top of their game if they are to reverse the trend of recent matches.