Dominant Heriot’s starve County into submission

In WINNING this entertaining RBS Premier 1 clash, Heriot’s proved one of the eternal truths of football of any code: if you deny your opponents possession, they cannot beat you.

“We had no ball to play with in the first half,” said County coach Eddie Pollock.

“So we got tired, we made mistakes and Heriot’s, on the front foot, hurt us. By the time we did get some ball in the second half, the game had got away from us.”

Work in his day job had prevented Heriot’s backs coach Mike Appleson from doing as much work with the backs as he had wished in pre-season, so he was clearly pleased with the result. “We’re delighted. We worked hard in training this week and got the response we wanted,” he said.

Brian Archibald’s second-minute penalty was as good as it got for County in the first half. Heriot’s skipper Graham Wilson barged over for a try, converted it, then added a penalty before Jordy Kohn’s try made it 15-3 at the break.

Benji Barsanti and Steve Swindall touched down for County in the second half. But, while both were unconverted, Wilson added the extras to Jason Hill’s and Kohn’s second try of the game to secure a comprehensive bonus-point win.

Scorers: Stirling County – Tries: Barsanti, Swindall. Pen: Archibald. Heriot’s – Tries: Wilson, Kohn 2, Hill. Cons: Wilson 3; Pen: Wilson.

Stirling County: B Addison; G Lindsay, D Gilmour, B Archibald, R Aitken; S Edwards, S Kennedy; S Raby, A Moffat, C Hutton, R McAlpine, C Deacons, S Swindall, T Clarke, B Barsanti. Replacements used: C Black, A Simpson, S Robertson, R Boswell, C Robertson.

Heriot’s: C Goudie; J Kohn, M Nimmo, C Mark, A Scott; C Ferguson, G Wilson; A Dymock, K Bryce, G Cameron, R Martin, CJ Osazuwa, A McDonald, M Reid, J Hill. Replacements used: S Mustard, JP Ward, R Boswell, M Goldie, J Bulamakau.

Referee: R Dickson.