Dundee 51-14 Hillfoots: 'A tough day' for Clacks side

Hillfoots 1st XV travelled to face Dundee 2nd XV with a number of regulars unavailable for a multitude of reasons.

With the teams sharing eighty-four points earlier in the season in an enthralling 42-42 draw, it would hopefully live up to the previous high scoring encounter.

Dundee got the upper hand in the first half, going in with a convincing 34-7 lead at the break.

The home side were being given easy field position with 'Foots being judged to be giving away penalties for high tackles, allowing Dundee to get into good scoring positions relatively easily.

Four converted tries and two penalties for Dundee with a Ryan Butterworth try and Gregor Manson conversion the reply for 'Foots.

Hiullfoots were beaten by Dundee at the weekend

The second half was a bit more even in terms of scoreline with Dundee scoring three further tries with one being converted.

'Foots got late try with Andy O'Connell crossing the line following a threw the legs pass from prop Tim Hardie. This left the final score at 51-14 to Dundee.

A frustrating afternoon for Hillfoots, some of the unavailable forwards were particularly missed, not allowing the usual strong set piece platform to attack from.

This meant the backs were deprived of the ball in attack. What was positive was the back really threatened with ball in hand when they did get go-forward and the scrum was dominant in large parts.

Man of the match was awarded to big Andy O'Connell for a solid performance on his first start for the club and securing his first try.

Simpson said post-match: "It was a tough day for everyone up at Dundee.

Hiullfoots were beaten by Dundee at the weekend

"We were feeling the pain of missing some key set piece individuals, but again, we showed flashes of what were are about with some really nice attacking plays.

"Fingers crossed we can get some consistent availability and we can make a push towards the end of this part of the league."

Hillfoots welcome Kinross to Tillicoultry on Saturday with the visitors looking to avenge a last-minute defeat on their patch in September.