Highland head coach Davie Carson is calling for a big reaction from his players as they seek to repeat their winning trip to Kelso in National Division One on Saturday.
The Canal Parkers slid to an agonising, last-gasp 13-12 defeat at home to Ayr last Saturday in a match they largely controlled, but failed to cash in on their sparkling play.
While leading 12-3 early in the second half, prop Stuart Watson was shown a red card for a trip on an opponent and the visitors got back into it with a converted try to make it 12-10.
HIGHLIGHTS | 🎥🏉@HighlandRFC hosted @OfficialAyrRFC at Canal Park on Saturday afternoon. See all of the action on #HighlandRugbyTV👇https://t.co/bz7KektGTq pic.twitter.com/kEp4MZzM7Y
— CORE (@coreltduk) September 5, 2021
Despite this set-back, 14-man Highland still looked like the most likely victors, but Ayr dug in and grasped the win with a late penalty to deliver an early blow to Highland, who are targeting promotion this season.
They now go to Kelso, who got their campaign off to a fine start by winning 31-20 at Cartha Queen’s Park.
Targeting victory to get back on track
Two years ago, Highland edged an impressive 27-26 comeback win down at Kelso and Carson is sure, if his players focus on their strengths, they’ll give themselves a chance.
He said: “We were away to Kelso in our second or third game two years ago and we got a good result, so we’re looking for the same again.
“The boys are hurting after the weekend and know we’ll have to dig deep to get a result down in the Borders. But we’ll still go down there with confidence.
“Teams are a lot stronger this year. It’s a tough league we’re in, so we need to be a bit more streetwise to dig out results away from home.
“It was a wee bit ragged in the line-outs last week, so that needs to be 100 per cent.
“We have enough experience in the backs to game manage and not try to run everything out of our own half. We want to put them under pressure in their half.”
Missed opportunities against Ayr
And Carson felt Saturday’s sore loss to Ayr was a lesson to take heed of when they were a man down.
He said: “We were 12-3 up at half-time and were defending really well after scoring from two good chances. We left two or three opportunities out on the park and never finished them off and that came back to bite us.
“The red card eight minutes into the second half really put a further dent in our chances. Our scrum half, Hugo Crush, got injured in the first half, so a few things went against us.
“We played well, especially in the first half. In the second half, we still created, but our game management wasn’t that great with 14 players. They got nervy and were defending the lead, whereas they just needed to relax and play the way they can play.
“It was disappointing, but it is only the first game of a long season. We just need to bounce back. Every game will be tough and it doesn’t get much tougher than travelling all the way to Kelso on Saturday.”
Crush and Grant Jamieson are both out with ankle injuries, but number 10 Ben Morris should return after a knee injury, while Jonathan Milton in the front row is available again.
After their trip to Kelso, the Inverness side are back home a week on Saturday to face Heriot’s Blues, who lost their opening contest 26-15 at Melrose at the weekend.
