Leith headed down the A68 hopeful of over turning their fortunes in the previous meeting between the two sides earlier in the season, and looking forward to taking to the newly laid 3g pitch at Volunteer Park, a surface which would suit a running style of rugby, although the persistent drizzle and wind would make this a touch more difficult during the game. It was too a much changed Leith team from that that took on Broughton a few weeks previous, with Wilson, McLeish, Kirkwood, Paterson, Marshall and McKinney all dropping from the squad either unavailable or injured with Robert Stitt, Andy MacIntosh, Ben Place, Paul Haggon, Craig Winton, Daniel Garrido Cordoba and veteran Paul Allison coming into the team.

The match kicked off at 3pm, however unfortunately Leith did not, with the number of changes, lack of game time and time together meant it took the team a while to get anywhere close to what they would consider and acceptable level of performance. This meant that Linden were on the front foot for most of the first half and were attacking from all areas of the park. The scores for the home team did eventually come however Leith were making them work hard for them in the final third. When Leith eventually did get some field position and possession of the ball they were finding it difficult to string phases together and keeping hold of it was proving difficult. All of this brought a very disappointing first half to a close with Linden leading 27-0.

With the game pretty much out of sight in terms of a contest Leith were determined to make more of a game of it in the 2nd half and show more of what they could do. With the conditions closing in the first 10 minutes of the 2nd half was a scrappy affair with the mistakes from both teams mounting up meaning the flow to the game was somewhat disrupted. Linden did manage to sneak over for another try before Leith started to exert some pressure of their own. More pressure in defence, hard running lines and more care for the ball all meant that Leith were starting to get more joy in he game. A break from centre Andy Homer who had moved into the back row meant that Leith found them selves deep inside the home 22m line. The ball was moved from left to right and back again as it eventually worked its way to Craig Winton who gave winger Andy Barr the final pass for him to cross the line.

Leith did continue to plug away in the game however Linden also wanted to finish the game on a high, they crossed with 10 minutes to go and followed this up with a try from a speculative cross field kick, followed up by a fortuitous bounce and clear run under the post which summed up Leith's afternoon. Linden went on to add a further score and compound the Academy Park team's misery.

Leith were left not only disappointed by the result but by a performance which lacked in several areas of the field. However it is a learning exercise and the Leithers will hope to atone for their mistakes on March 4th when they take on Trinity at Bangholm.

Try – Andy Barr
Serrano Manchego MOTM – Fraser Forsyth