W/D’s long unbeaten run ends

Oct 15 2008 by Judith Tonner, Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser

WAYSIDERS/DRUMPELLIER Rugby Club suffered their first defeat in 18 months when they travelled to Edinburgh for their maiden clash against Trinity Accies and lost 23-3.

Phil MacKenzie opened the scoring with a penalty for the Monklands team but those three points proved to be their last of a game which hugely disappointed coach Jon Shaw.

He said: “We didn’t deserve to win and I’m disappointed in the team performance because the collective enthusiasm wasn’t there and we need to have a professional attitude.

“In the past three or four games we’ve been scraping by and not playing the way we should, and on Saturday I felt we performed like a pub team.

“There will be a lot of home truths at training this week so that we can get fired up to make amends in front of a home crowd.

“However, we’ll take what positives we can from the game – the guys know what defeat tastes like now and hopefully they’ll come back and show character.”

Trinity quickly cancelled out the opening penalty and then took advantage of poor tackling to score a converted try.

With the score still 10-3, W/D exerted some real pressure at the start of the second half but instead, the hosts extended their lead against the run of play with another penalty. In the closing stages, Trinity took control from a five-metre lineout for another converted try, and booted another penalty on the final whistle.

W/D, who remain fourth in National League Division Three, host Lismore this Saturday. Kick-off is at 3pm.