Dunfermline S2 complete the double in Stonehaven

Dunfermline travelled to a sunny, but windy Stonehaven for the second leg of this seasons encounters against Mackie. The home leg in the first game of the season had been a hard fought affair with Dunfermline eventually running out deserved winners and a tough encounter was again expected by coaches and players.
With injuries and late calls off to the selected squad, it was a slightly unfamiliar looking team that took to the pitch. Ethan Wood moving from full back to centre to replace the injured Cammy Symes, Teig Feeney packing at No.8 for the lurgy affected Jon Scott and Michael Smith reverting to his favoured hooker position with Lewis Cook returning to the front row.
The game started off brightly with Dunfermline playing down the slight slope with the benefit of the swirling wind largely in their favour. However despite lots of possession some inaccuracies combined with some excellent defensive work from Mackie (especially from the diminutive left wing who tackled well above his weight and prevented a number of tries) keep the scoreboard from moving. Finally the break through arrived with the ball being moved along the back line from a ruck with Euan Colston looping outside the winger to take the scoring pass and dot down in the corner. Ben could not add the extra point in the strong wind. There were a number of close calls with Aidan scooping up the ball from a line out steal and breaking down the blind side only to be caught short of the line by the covering ten and Ethan Wood simultaneously winning the MHP (most Honest Player) award and Wally of the week by chalking off his own try (which was short of the line apparently). For the remainder of the period Dunfermline continued to apply pressure but could not add to the score board.
An injury to the Mackie hooker saw the first half cut short. With no substitutes, Harry McCulloch stepped up and played in the Mackie front row for the rest of the game. With the half cut short, the game changed from two, 30 minute periods, to three twenty minutes.
The second half started in much the same vain as the first with Dunfermline putting together some good phases but unable to finish them off. It was Mackie who scored first however following a strong run from their centre who brushed off some weak tackles to out pace the cover and score under the posts. A successful conversion saw them take a surprise 4-3 lead.
This did seem to galvanise the Dunfermline team however and the pressure was again applied to the Mackie line for the remainder of the half. Eventually the pressure told with Alex McKenzie finishing off another neat handling move by bulldozing his way through the covering Mackie defence with a trade mark strong run to score. No extra point could be added.
This completed the scoring for the period with Dunfermline now leading 6-4.
The final period saw Dunfermline finally start finishing the chances they created with Cameron Shaw, on for Full back Andrew Waterworth, finishing off two moves with nearly identical runs down the left wing and Euan Colston taking advantage of a bullocking kick off return by Teig “Crazy legs” Feeney to score under the posts. All three tries in this period were converted by Ben.
The final score was 18-4 to Dunfermline.
All in all a decent work out against a defensively strong Mackie side. Not quite to the same standard as we had seen on the Dublin tour but again the scrum and rucking went well and the back play was generally of pretty good quality, especially in the strong wind. With two of the main strke runners missing it was necessary for others to step up and this was seen in good performances from Ethan Wood in the centre and another strong performance from Teig, backing up his excellent form in Ireland. However the pick of the days performances, as judged by the Mackie referee, was captain for the day, Aidan Reddick, who continued his recent excellent form, leading from the front with crisp passing, good decision making and some incisive breaks as well as strong tackling (most notably with the last play of the game where he tracked the Mackie back line across the park and made the covering tackle to put the winger out as he was making a beeline for the try line).
Many thanks to Mackie players, coaches and parents for making us welcome and we look forward to more games next year.