Dalziel knocked out of National Shield semi-final by Greenock Wanderers

Apr 8 2010 by Andrew McGilvray, Hamilton Advertiser

DALZIEL slumped to their first defeat of an amazing season when they were beaten in the National Shield semi-finals.

Wanderers put in a tremendous performance against the Motherwell side and progress to a Murrayfield final against Lasswade.

Greenock had spent the week working on their scrum and lineout, and dominated these areas for the whole match, denying Shield favourites Dalziel a platform from which to build attacks.

Dalziel’s normally solid defence failed to cope with Greenock and when they managed to build attacks, Wanderers dealt with them promptly and efficiently.

By half-time, the hosts were 13-0 ahead through two Ant Devlin penalties and a Kieran Smith try, with Devlin adding the conversion.

Within five minutes of the second half, Dalziel had reduced the deficit to 13-6 after Robert Simpson knocked over two penalties.

Dalziel looked to be taking the upper hand but Wanderers rallied and Devlin slotted another penalty to stretch their lead to 16-6.

Over the next 10 minutes, Greenock effectively secured the win.

In 52 minutes, Matt Gray secured quality ball from a lineout and Andy McDougall fed the ball through the back-line.

Several phases of play were set up before Dougie Smith carried the ball forward and set up Brendan McGroarty, who burst through two tackles to score in the corner, with Devlin tagging the points, despite the tight angle, for 23-6.

Eight minutes later, another superb handling move between forwards and backs stretched the Dalziel defence again, with captain David Watson bursting for the line.

Although he was stopped short, a supporting run by Alan McMichael saw him collect the ball before darting past two defenders to crash over, with Devlin converting for 30-6.

Shell-shocked Dalziel responded with Craig Lewis and Craig Simmonds scoring unconverted tries, but it was too little too late and Greenock ran out worthy winners.

However, Dalziel’s attentions will now turn to securing the National League Division One title over their remaining three games.