Loch Lomond Rugby Club out of cup

Nov 14 2008 by Laura McLachlan, Lennox Herald (main ed)

LOCH Lomond’s cup dreams were shattered last week as lower league side Birkmyre punished missed opportunities.

The game kicked off and soon Lomond had the visitors under relentless pressure but they were unable to crack the last line of their stubborn opponent's defences and when they finally did, Lockhart and Fairman combining to create a simple run in for the latter, the final pass was correctly judged to have been forward.

Lomond carved out chance after chance but were either denied by their own unforced errors or valiant last-ditch tacklers. It seemed that something had to give but it wasn't the Birkmyre defence.

Tempers frayed and spectators were treated to the sight of the home side squabbling openly with one another over who was to blame for their inability to find a cutting edge.

Between arguments, Lomond were still a threat, demonstrated by a fantastic break from young winger Thompson who ran the length of the field, only to be denied by a fine tackle.

Shortly afterwards, Lomond earned a penalty and McAdam slotted the kick to give them a lead they scarcely deserved on the stroke of half-time.

It should have settled them down but it didn't. Instead Lomond continued to make errors in their handling and decision making.

Birkmyre bided their time and waited for Lomond to push the self-destruct button. With fifteen minutes to go their opportunity arrived when Lomond took too long to decide what to do about the perplexing oval object that they had, once again, managed to drop.

Birkmyre's winger raced into the board-meeting and hacked the ball beyond Lomond's defenders before outpacing the cover to score.

Lomond threw all they had left at Birkmyre in the closing stages, but the visitors held on to clinch a memorable, and richly deserved, win.

Next week Lomond return to league business with a tricky away match against Strathclyde Police.

All players should attend training this week at the clubhouse on Tuesday and Thursday at 6.45pm.