In front of an enthusiastic away support – two men (David Rosie Snr & me) and a dog (if we can ever describe Gordon Dryburgh, the touch judge as a dog – he certainly howled at the referee), EK 2nds put on a good display away to GHA Gazelles on Saturday.

While the final score, 29-14, suggested a comfortable win for the home side, it could have been very different. The first quarter was all EK with strong running in the backs, with Andy (Duk) MacDonald and Ross (Beans) Hynde prominent.

However, a number of good opportunities went begging, mainly due to lack of support at the critical moment. Not too surprising given we were two players light. And unfortunately GHA woke up after 21 minutes to claim the first try after a sustained forward drive.

In the forwards, David Rosie Junior and John Watson amongst others tried hard to provide the ball for the backs. EK were short of experienced front rowers, so Patrick (the Beast) Quigg thought he could press Chris Quinn for his berth in the 1s. In other words, it was uncontested scrums throughout. Patrick later tried to claim he did not lose a scrum all day!

GHA kindly offered some bodies to augment the visitors but such was the EK team spirit that they wanted to simply play with what they had. Taking replacements from Clarkston? We could never ever be that desperate!! However, such false pride was to tell as the match wore on and GHA were able to bring on multiple replacements.

John Watson upset the referee with some footwork in the contact area and earned a yellow card just before half time. It was the only incident of its type in the match.

EK had good reason to feel confident at half time, only 0-5 down. And with the nifty (?!) Hagerty family playing at centre – President Peter at 12 and son Gregor at 13 – there was always (really?) the chance of a long distance try (if Peter H was allowed to stop for a couple of rests en route to the try line).

GHA scored again after 49 minutes (10-0) but this spurred EK on to their first score. A blistering 40 metre break by the EK No 8 (who was going so fast I almost could not recognise him!) gave Duk MacDonald an opening to spurt over from a full 25 metres in the left corner.

It was a great try, and was duly topped off by a magnificent touchline conversion by Beans Hynde. It must be noted that Beans kicked very well all day, down the line and in open play. EK went down to 12 men early in the 2nd half when winger Nico Gamberini went off with a knee injury.

Tiredness and lack of personnel were therefore the main reasons for the next GHA converted try as they ran through their replacements bench, assisted by some half hearted tackling by EK. There was however one storming tackle in the 2nd half when Baby Hagerty got his man in covering back when GHA looked destined to score.

GHA claimed their final converted score when the EK forwards drifted away from the contact zone leaving an inviting path to the try line through the middle. But EK were to have the last word, both literally and metaphorically.

The EK dog, oops, I mean touch judge Dryburgh, upset the referee with his howling at the final GHA score such that the ref gave GHA a penalty on the half way line at the restart. Pretty unusual even for this dog! Undeterred, EK did have the last word when David Rosie powered through from 20 metres after more good play from the backs, with Hynde again converting

The final score of 29-14 could have been fairer to EK but all credit to the EK 2s for sticking at the task and giving it their best shot. It was disappointing that I had apparently forgotten to charge the battery in my camera as the photos I managed on my camera did not do their efforts justice.

Team: 1. Patrick (the Beast) Quigg, 2. Scott Hamilton, 3.Euan Perry, 4. John Watson, 5. Bruce (late night) Beggans, 6. David Rosie Jnr, 8. The Shadow, 9. Duk MacDonald, 10. Ross Hynde, 11. Nico Gaberini, 12. Papa Hagerty, 13. Baby Hagerty, 15 David Bell.
Man of the Match: for boundless energy, enthusiasm and effort, Andy Duk MacDonald was the MoM by a mile.
This loss, and a four point deduction by the SRU for the 2s imposed for defaulting on an earlier league match, means that EK slip to eighth in the league table.

Next week: the 2s are at home to Shawlands, who are currently bottom of the league, with a 3pm kick off. All potential players welcome. This is an important match that we want, and can, win. Just contact Bruce Beggans on 07427 166626 or email him on bruce.beggans@hotmail.co.uk