Strathaven are knocked out of Plate

Feb 21 2008

STRATHAVEN were knocked out of the Plate competition in the first round on Saturday.

After a string of cancelled matches, this was the Lanarkshire side’s first game since Christmas.

The first 10 minutes of the match saw Strathaven pinned back in their half but top-class defending, sled by Leonard Allan at fly half, kept the home side out.

However, despite strong defensive work, the pressure soon paid off for the Glasgow side, who scored after a lucky bounce of the ball from a kick deep into Strathaven territory.

Strathaven fought back and after some excellent forward rucking second-row man Crawford McGowan scored.

A second try for Strathaven came courtesy of Stuart Alder, playing outside centre, and this put them 12-7 up.

However, this was swiftly countered by Hewenden with a push-over try in the last minute of the first half levelling the scoreline at half-time at 12-12.

The second half saw Hewenden gaining momentum in their forward play and after multiple scrums and a second half of mostly forward play, they scored again with an unconverted try, which proved enough for victory.