Mackie Academy FP RFC 1st XV...31

Alloa RFC 1st XV...36

Alloa recorded a fifth straight win and went top of Caledonia Division One by virtue of a hard fought victory at Stonehaven in a match that produced ten tries.

Playing down the pronounced slope, the home side started the match on the front foot and produced a standard of rugby that belied their lowly league position. And it wasn’t long before their early pressure deservedly paid off with a score from their strong running centre.

Alloa seemed to struggle early on as they tried to run the bus journey out of their legs. But they slowly edged their way back into the game and Ross Brydie levelled the scores wide in the right hand corner following a quick handling move from the Backs.

This score settled the early nerves and whilst it was not all one way traffic the Alloa forwards began to assert their authority over their opposite numbers and when they drove the home side pack off of their own scrum put in, Skipper Gary Taylor picked up and spotted a gap in the defensive line which he exploited to the full.

This converted score gave Alloa a 12-7 half time lead.

The visitors went up through the gears in the second half and two quick tries from Matt Pope and Ali Edwards stretched the lead to 19 points, but any thoughts of a runaway win would have been premature as the home side struck back with a score of their own.

Alloa did not panic and they were soon camped in the home sides “22 and eventually Rab Truesdale secured the bonus point try from a typical short range burst through the defence.

The game continued to flow from end to end and the home side once again pegged back the score line following a nice cross field kick from their stand-off which was gathered by the Winger who strolled over for a nice score. But Truesdale once again burst through from short range following a quickly taken tap penalty to give his side a 36-19 lead.

Mackie once again refused to lie down and struck back in a frantic finale that saw Alloa scrum half Martin McKenzie red carded for an alleged tip tackle and two late tries left the score line looking a little closer than it possibly should have been when compared with the balance of play.

Any win in this league on the road is a good one especially an early kick-off in the north and the club can take huge pride on their current league standing.

Gary Taylor led from the front in a tough encounter and was deservedly given the man of the match award.

Alloa complete their 2016 fixtures on Saturday with a home match against Carnoustie. Kick-off 2pm.