Published at 21:34, Wednesday, 07 September 2011

Ellon 39 Langholm 9 LANGHOLM made the long trip to Ellon last Saturday with a squad of only 16 and conceded five tries.

Although it looks bad, Langholm played better than the score suggests and it was difficult to get any fluency in their play against the negative tactics of the home side.

Ellon gave away 16 penalties compared with Langholm’s four and, while the referee gave the home team several warnings, no one was yellow-carded.

Several Langholm players took knocks but had to soldier on with only one replacement available.

Ellon had the advantage of a strong wind in the first half and Mark Ryan put them ahead with two penalties.

The Langholm scrum creaked a bit but the pack held their own in most other departments and it was 27 minutes before the home side stretched their lead.

It started with the Ellon pack pressing on the line before the ball was fed wide for the winger to score and the conversion points were added.

Niall Cubbon kicked a penalty for Langholm on the half hour and it looked like they were in a good position at 13-3 with the wind advantage to come in the second half. Ellon grabbed a soft try, which was converted, just before the interval and left Langholm facing a much more difficult task.

The second half got underway with the score 20-3 and from the kick-off Langholm lock Jaimie Ashton-Smith was taken out in the air and injured.

Surprisingly, play was allowed to continue and from ruck ball Ellon got the overlap for a converted try. Cubbon kicked a Langholm penalty to make it 27-6.

Langholm had a good 20 minutes of forceful play with threatened runs but could not keep any fluency going against the disruptive home side which restricted quick ball. Langholm were reduced to several walking wounded by the latter stages and finished up giving away another two tries plus a conversion.

Jordan Reid put in a power of work on the flank and was the pick of the pack.

Langholm fly half Keith Davidson was on target with a late drop goal.

Langholm face Garnock at Milntown this Saturday at 3pm.

Langholm: A Cavers, E Waitt, N Cully, N Cubbon, L Miller, K Davidson, R Mackay, D Divers, S Devlin, C Little, J Ashton-Smith, S Howatson, J Reid, S Nicol, S Graham. Replacement: A Tyler.

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