In an afternoon that will live long in the memory, Alloa emerged victorious in an entertaining match to lift a Regional trophy for the first time in 32 years.

As expected, the Students made numerous changes to last week’s side who had suffered a heavy Earlsfield defeat. But in a similar start to that game, it was the home side that got off to a flier with two scores inside the first five minutes when firstly, Matthew Duncan and then Martin MacKenzie crossed the whitewash to post an early 10 point lead.

But the Students once again showed that they are dangerous and from a Line Out just short of the Alloa line they set up a driving maul which was difficult to defend against and they surged over for an unconverted score.

And it was all square moments later when a speculative kick bounced awkwardly over the home defence straight into the hands of a Stirling man and he sped in unopposed.

To their credit, the home side did not panic and set about restoring their lead with the Forwards stepping up the pace and dominating the Scrum and when an Alloa attack was held up just short of the line the ball was recycled quickly allowing Martin MacKenzie to pick up and dive over from a yard out. Lee Cairney made sure of the seven points with an easy conversion.

With five minutes remaining in the half Stirling were awarded a penalty which they kicked over for three points, but Alloa were soon back on the front foot and Kris Aitken finished off a Backs move by bulldozing his way through the Uni defence for another converted score and with the final kick of the half Lee Cairney kicked over a penalty for a 27-13 half time lead.

This was a handy lead to have at this stage, but the Stirling side, who had been defeated in last season’s final by a solitary point, were determined to go one better and claw their way back in to this match and another line out drive was just as effective as the one in the first half and they successfully drove over in the corner.

Alloa were looking a little rattled at this point and surrendered possession at a ruck rather too easily allowing the Stirling back division time and space and they punished this mistake to the full scoring under the posts and the lead was now down to just two points.

At this stage, Skipper Gary Taylor stepped up to the mark and led from the front with a series of drives straight at the heart of the Students defence and when they were awarded a penalty they bravely declined the three points and elected instead for a Scrum.

From the solid platform, Taylor was able to pick up from the base of the Scrum and blast his way through the defence for a morale lifting score.

But Stirling were refusing to lie down and when Alloa failed to collect the restart their Backline were again given space, and as is typical of student sides, they don’t need a second invitation to run through gaps and that is exactly what they did on this occasion once again reducing the arrears to just two points.

The nerves were jangling at this stage for the largest crowd ever seen at Earlsfield as the game swung from end to end with both sides having chances, but they were soon to let out a roar of joy when Martin MacKenzie completed his hat trick with a typical snipe around the fringes of a ruck and the young Scrum Half capped a Man of the Match performance by diving under a despairing defence.

Lee Cairney was under pressure with the conversion knowing that success would mean that the Students would have to score twice in the last 10 minutes to have any chance of victory and the youngster held his nerve to add the extra two points.

This gave the local side some breathing space, buy they still had to concentrate to see the match out and only two excellent covering tackles from Matt Pope kept the visitors at bay.

The referee’s final whistle heralded the start of celebrations that lasted long into the evening as Alloa were deservedly crowned Midlands Bowl winners.

With the Regional silverware safely tucked away, the Earlsfield side have the chance to add to the trophy cabinet as they now enter the National Bowl where they will face North Bowl winners, Kinloss Eagles at Earlsfield on Saturday 7th March with a 3pm KO.