ALLOA RFC..................32

ELLON RFC..................28

Tennent's Caledonia League Division 1

ALLOA started their league campaign with a great bonus point win against newly promoted Ellon.

The early exchanges were fairly even but when Alloa were awarded a scrum in midfield after 15 minutes of play, they opened the scoring.

Martin McKenzie slid a dangerous and neat chip behind the Ellon defence and winger where Graham Lindsay was on hand to dive over for a well worked score.

This score lifted the home side who subsequently raced to a 24-0 lead at half time thanks to further tries from Jamie Syme (2) and Martin McKenzie with Lee Carney landing two conversions.

However, a combination of taking the foot off the gas and perhaps some early season rustiness let Ellon back in to the match and they deservedly scored three unanswered converted tries during a ten minute period which saw the home defence miss too many first time tackles.

Alloa quickly rallied and Kris Aitken's try gave them some daylight, but a fourth converted Ellon try that was ultimately to yield them two bonus points made things extremely nervy at 29-28.

From a match which looked to be won at half time, Alloa were now running the very serious risk of losing, but they deserve credit for digging deep to change the match momentum and Rab Truesdale proved to be the match winner when he powered his was over from out wide.

This score was followed by intense pressure from the home side for the final ten minutes but they couldn't find a way through as the match finished 34-28.

Despite the late improvement, there was a degree of relief at the final whistle, as the young, well drilled Aberdeen side showed during the second period that they will be a welcome addition to the league.

Alloa travel to Grangemouth this Saturday for the first of two local derbies, with near neighbours Hillfoots visiting Earlsfield the following week. Both games kick off at 3pm.