Leith slump in defeat to Trinity

A game that was arranged and rearranged several times due to weather and pitch availability, finally took place on Saturday and drew Leith's season to a close. A spirited squad travelled the short distance to Bangholm, determined to leave it all out on the pitch and draw a line firmly under the season.

The game kicked off and much like last week Leith were under the cosh from the get go, however the defensive effort was far greater than the previous week and Leith were successful in driving the Trinity team backwards and started to get some ball of there own. However as quickly as they were getting the ball in a game where the breakdown was proving to become a lottery it was being coughed up again. This and a few penalties gave Trinity some good field position which they executed well and scored in the corner. Leith continued to invite more pressure on themselves and individual mistakes was making it all to easy for Trinity as the crossed the line for the 2nd time.

Leith rallied however and like last week got themselves on the scoreboard to put themselves within touching distance of their opponents. After some good work in the centre by Doug Watters and carries from Wilson, McKinney and Forsyth, the home team were on the back foot and gaps opening up as Leith entered the Trinity 22m area. As the ball was recycled in the centre of the pitch quickly it came from scrum half Forrest to Wilkinson who put Dannfald through a gap 10ms out. The outside centre skipped past 2 defenders before offloading to winger Andrew Dickson who used his pace to beat the last man and touchdown.

The game ebbed and flowed for the rest of the half with chances for either team to put their mark on the occasion but all to often some mistakes and the turnover lottery at the breakdown made this difficult. However it was gust before halftime that Trintiy grabbed another score to put daylight between the sides. After some concentrated pressure the Leith defence tired which allowed the 9 to pick and go round the corner to dot down. This made the halftime score 17-5 to the home team.

Again in a mirror image to last week Leith knew they were still in the game at halftime and had to come out of the block firing on all cylinders to win the game. However Leith again failed to get going and invited wave after wave of Trinity pressure upon them which eventually told in the form of 2 home tries to put the game out of sight. There was still chances for the Leith team but were once again being spoiled by individual mistakes and being penalised at the breakdown, this eventually led to Grant Aitken being sent to the bin. However Leith wernt done with their 2016/17 season and after retaining the ball for a while and Trinity also dropping to 14 they Struck. Once again Wilkinson passed to outside centre Dannfald, who took a couple on on the outside before stepping back in on the full back. Just as the covering defence snagged him he offloaded to sub winger George Easdon who ran in from 15 ms to touch down.

Final Score 36-12. Again another disappointing game which has brought an end to a disappointing 2nd half to the season. The Leith team knew it would be difficult after scraping into the top 6 and are disappointed not to get a win in the 2nd half. Games have shown their is a performance in their and the ability and application available however the inconsistencies have meant we have fallen short of the teams above us. Special thanks go to departing Head Coach Ron Harris for the effort he has put into us this season and wish him all the best for future endeavours.

Attentions now turn to 7s as the team kick off a 4 week tournament schedule witht he Rex Club Leith 7s supported by Crabbies up first followed by Edinburgh Northern, Penicuik and Paisley before the curtain is fully drawn on the season at Awards night on the 6th of May.

Tries - Easdon, Dickson
Convs - Dannfald
Serrano Manchego MOTM - Stuart Wilson