Strathmore RFC.....13
Alloa RFC..............25

BT Caledonia League, Division 1
 

ALLOA moved up to third position in the league after they came from 13-0 down to score an outstanding win in Forfar against a team who had toppled previously unbeaten Gordonians in Aberdeen the week before.

In wet conditions, the visitors started the match well and Scrum-half Martin McKenzie made the first significant break of the match before being hauled down by the last line of defence close to the try line.

However, Strathmore weathered the early Alloa pressure and it was they who struck first as Alloa missed a tackle in midfield allowing the home side winger to score out wide.

Strathie were now controlling the ball well and added a penalty before some further ineffective defence from Alloa let them in for a second try and with only 20 minutes played Alloa found themselves on the wrong end of a 13-0 scoreline.

This second score seemed to act as a wake-up call and they upped the pace and physicality and built a period of sustained pressure of their own and with 10 minutes to play in the first period, the ball was whipped through the hands to Matt Pope who drew the last line of cover before providing a perfectly timed scoring pass to Tim Tabatabaie.

A feature of Alloa's strength this season has been the scrummage and they had Strathmore creaking at times during the first period and it was from a set-piece close to the Strathmore line that Gary Taylor broke from the base of a scrum 5 metres out and the No. 8 eluded the first tackler before stretching over the try line. Lee Cairney slotted the conversion from wide on the left.

Strathmore reacted well to these scores and there was some scrambling defence for Alloa to perform before the interval but they remained intact and trailed by only a point at the break (13-12).

With skipper Gary Taylor having to leave the action at half-time, Alloa restored experienced stand-off Stevie Skelton to the back division for the first time this season and moved Rab Truesdale to the back-row. Both former club captains played their part in what was to become an excellent second half showing.

Truesdale took some of the pressure off Ali Edwards in the ball carrying department, ripping into the heart of the Strathmore defence who were struggling to cope and twice they were penalised in quick succession leaving Lee Cairney to coolly slot over both kicks at goal.

Strathmore at this point were beginning to suffer in the heavy clashes up front and were forced into a stream of changes as their injury toll increased. Perversely their injury list actually worked to their advantage as the game moved to non-contested scrummages and with the rain teaming down the line-out moved into the lottery category. Indeed one incursion into the Alloa 22 should have yielded a try but the ball was dropped with the try line beckoning.

Alloa regrouped after this let off and were soon back hammering away at the Strathmore line. A few drives were held up short but there was no stopping Ali Edwards as he crashed over the line. Lee Cairney added the extras. Alloa never really looked like grabbing a fourth and bonus point try however they were more than comfortable in seeing the game out.

In what was an excellent team effort, Rab Truesdale was singled out for the JM Builders Man of the Match award.

This was arguably Alloa's best result of the season and puts them in the right frame of mind for the visit of top of the table Caithness on Saturday (kick-off 3pm).