Aberdeen Grammar have yet to break their duck in National League 1 but came agonisingly close in their all-Caledonian clash against Stirling County at Rubislaw, only to concede a late try to the Bridgehaugh side to lose 25-24.
In a game of fluctuating fortunes, County looked set to register a comfortable win after dominating the first half hour of play, only to surrender a try to the ever-alert Mark Galloway in 31 minutes.
The former Ellon prop nipped over the line from a lineout in his team’s first foray inside the visitors’ 22. Tom Aplin, the home captain and centre, duly accepted the gift, adding the conversion.
But having withstood the early onslaught of Stirling, Grammar conceded the softest of tries four minutes later.
Winger Craig Shepherd chipped a kick from inside his own 22 straight to centre Mikey Heron who raced over the Grammar line for the first of his three tries of the afternoon, converted by stand-off Jonny Hope.
Hope then rubbed salt in the Grammar wounds with a well-struck penalty to make it 10-7 only for Grammar to rally just before halftime when home replacement centre Sam Ryan, another Ellon product, plunged over to regain the lead and with Aplin adding the extras Grammar were ahead 14-10 at the break.
Late drama in second half
Better was to come immediately after the interval for the homesters when centre Doug Russell found space out on the left and raced through the static County defence for a converted try.
A 21-10 scoreline had Grammar on course for a first win of the season, especially when playmaker Sam Knudson added a penalty in the absence of the injured Aplin, making it 24-10.
In fairness to Stirling, they kept their heads, plugging quietly away, getting their reward with a Hope penalty and then another try from Heron, superbly converted from the touchline by Hope to take them to within four points of Grammar.
With time running out it looked too late for any chance of victory but Heron thought otherwise, claiming his hat trick deep into injury.
There was still time for Knudson to attempt two kicks at goal but the spoils went to Stirling County, which over the piece was just about right given the amount of possession they enjoyed.
Co-head coach Nat Coe was clearly in shock at the final whistle but said: “We probably deserved better but it’s fine margins at this level.
“There were some fine performances in the pack, but we’ll just need to knuckle down for the challenge of Melrose away next week.”
It was a view shared by Aplin who said: “We need to start winning somewhere. Why not Melrose?”
Gordonians rampant at Whitecraigs
Gordonians ran riot at Whitecraigs where they extended their run of wins to three, collecting maximum points in the process, while taking over the leadership of National League 3 after the 60-24 rout of the home team.
Assistant coach Ryan Morrice was delighted with the manner in which had started the game.
He said: “Just like last week we started the game with some fantastic open, running rugby but not surprisingly were not able to maintain the pace.
“We gave Whitecraigs four soft tries but after the quality of rugby we played, it would be unfair to be critical.
“The guys were just fantastic. We look forward to going to Forfar next week where we meet Strathmore.”
The visitors led 36-10 at the break and have now scored 125 points in the three games, and enjoy joint leadership with Orkney and West of Scotland but are top by virtue of superior points difference.
The Countesswells side scored 10 tries, five of which were converted.
