On a pleasant autumn afternoon Garnock made the short trip to face Lenzie in National League 4 .The hosts had made a strong start to the league season with only one defeat from their opening six games.
In earlier games this season Garnock have started slowly and there was a determination to reverse this trend and produce a positive opening 10 minutes. This mindset proved effective with Garnock opening the scoring through a fine try from Aaron Purewal following a break by Cian Smith. The touchline conversion from Keir Walker was successful 0-7
This was a game in which neither side was able to dominate and scoring chances were few and far between and the majority of play was between the 20m lines. Midway through the half Lenzie opened their account with a try in the corner. The conversion fell short and the score remained at 5-7 at the half.
For the first 15 minutes of the second half Lenzie enjoyed the better of territory and possession and despite excellent defence from the visitors they ultimately scoreda second try which was converted 12-7 . This seemed to spur the visitors to increase their efforts. From ascrum on the Lenzie 20m line No8 Matt Shiells carried toward the line before being stopped however from the resulting ruck the ball was passed wide allowing skipper Jared Reekie to dive in at the corner. Converion successful 12-14
Both sides continued to try and attack with ball in hand however a mixture of individual errors and good defence prevented further scoring until the final play of the game when Garnock were awarded a penalty 30m out in front of the posts. Keir Walker calmly slotted the kick to take the final score to 12-17
Unfortunately towards the end of the first half flanker Richard O’Neill suffered a serious injury to his arm which has the potential to be season ending for him. Richrd was replaced by 18 year old Ewan Wilson for only his third 1st XV game. Ewan put in an excellent performance and is definitely one to watch in the future.
Next week Garnock travel to Dunfermline
Garnock squad Chapman, C Wilson, O’Brien, King, A Miller, O’Neill, Craig, Shiells, Kearney, R Walker, Docherty, K Walker, Reekie, Smith, Purewal Reps F Miller, E Wilson and Young
