Howe of Fife march on after cup thriller

Published on Sunday 14 March 2010 23:30

THE fitness regime of coach Gary Horne was hailed yesterday after Howe of Fife stepped up their latest Scottish Hydro Premier Cup giant killing act.

Horne's injury-hit side pipped West of Scotland 30-29 in a Burnbrae thriller – bouncing back from a nightmare start.

Spokesman Ally Paton reckoned it was the Cupar side's staying power that made all the difference, and said: "West rattled up three tries in quick succession to lead 17-5 and the picture looked pretty gloomy for us. But the guys just got their heads down and refused to buckle.

"Gary and his coaching staff have been working tremendously hard on the fitness side of things and I am sure that is what carried us through in the end.

"Great credit is also due to a couple of the fringe lads, who stepped up to the mark when our preparations were hit by injuries.

"Murray Calcutt is normally a stand-off for the seconds, but came in on the wing and scored one of our tries. Andy Kennedy filled in at centre and acquitted himself really well."

Paton also made a point of praising the home club officials for their response to such a narrow defeat.

He said: "Their attitude was very heartening. There were no excuses or gripes about the refereeing. They told us the better team had won."

Howe's other scorers were Ross Aitken, Andy McLean (2) and Fraser Clark. Matt Daly also contributed to the shock result with a penalty and conversion. Graham Fisken (2), Mark Jenkinson, Ben Wright and Jack Walker notched the West touchdowns – Mike Sim and Wright sharing the kick points in vain.

Selkirk were another top-flight side to bite the dust, surrendering an interval lead to crash 25-12 to Premier 2 pacesetters Stirling County at Bridgehaugh. Ben Addison, Colin Eadie and Rob McGowan were the County try heroes, while Brian Archibald landed two conversions and two penalties. Selkirk's counters came from Rob Nixon and Gavin Craig, David Cassidy converting one.

There were try hat-tricks at Millbrae and the Greenyards to help Ayr and Melrose sweep aside Stewart's-Melville and Falkirk respectively. Scrum-half Jamie Hunter was the destroyer-in-chief as the Seasiders cruised through 77-5, while Mike Thomson was in prime form for the Borderers.

Cartha Queens Park had high hopes against Perthshire in the wake of their surprise midweek triumph over Boroughmuir. However, they couldn't reproduce that form at Dumbreck, going down 36-8. Craig Assenti excelled with two superb scores.

Gala were pushed all the way before scraping through at Ardrossan.