Aberdeen Grammar brought the smiles back to Rubislaw on Saturday when they registered their first win of the season against fellow strugglers Stewart’s Melville in an emphatic performance.
Not surprisingly, the home coaching team were delighted to have put behind them the misery of six successive defeats in National League One.
With four games out of five to come at home, Grammar are hoping to build up some momentum.
Co-head coach Greig Ryan was particularly happy for the young players in the team.
He said: “Today everything clicked for us. The youngsters who have never tasted victory can now settle down and build on this good, all-round performance.
“They have worked hard for this and hopefully there’s more to come.”
For captain Tom Aplin the win brought great relief.
He said: “The monkey is off our back. We can now be more relaxed without being complacent. The rewards will come.”
Home team confidence
Once Grammar settled into their game they were the vastly better side against a toothless Edinburgh who never looked like scoring a try, although the home defence was well up to containing the limited efforts of the visitors.
After a nervous, tense opening 20 minutes, Grammar seized the initiative when their back line combined to send in winger Ben Renton for a try under the posts, giving Aplin the easiest of conversions to lead 7-0 at half time.
A concerted effort from the home pack three minutes into the second half led to a push-over try, touched down by prop Mark Galloway, his third of the season.
Aplin hit the post with his conversion but it mattered little as confidence oozed out of the home team leading to a third try midway through the half when replacement centre Scott Byars raced on to a chip through the Inverleith defence to touch down.
Aplin made it 19-0 with the conversion and with the game won, it was only a question of whether or not the home side would score a fourth try to register a valuable try bonus point.
It proved beyond them but by this time the Rubislaw crowd were in full voice as they celebrated a much-needed win, setting them up for a home derby with Dundee.
Standouts for Grammar were flanker Jonny Spence and all-action hooker Seb Stephens.
Stand out performances
At half back Sam Knudson and Patrick Ritchie were solid and as usual Knudson was reliable in everything he did, including his out-of-hand kicking.
Full back Callum Hunter was an inspirational tackler, in a good all-round team performance, though sterner tests will come, as pointed out by forwards coach Iain Stanger.
He said: “One swallow doesn’t make a summer but it’s an encouraging win and a launching pad for the rest of the season.”
This is a very young team who demonstrated great resilience and maturity”
At Countesswells, Gordonians made it seven wins in a row in National League 3 but had first to shrug off a red card for Ross Buchanan in the first half of a hard-fought affair which ended in a 20-15 win.
A battling second half performance provided Gordonians with an impressive win keeping them comfortably ahead in joint place with West of Scotland, nine points in front of Allan Glens.
Gordonians head coach James Greenwood was pleased with the manner in which his charges had reacted to the red card for a mistimed tackle.
“We dug in with 14 men for most of the game.
“I’m proud of their efforts particularly as we lost games like this last season.
“This is a very young team who demonstrated great resilience and maturity,” he said.
The visitors opened the scoring but the Countesswells side were quick to respond when Rory Riddle took advantage of a massive overlap to score a touchdown converted by Angus Winning to trail 12-10 at half time.
Despite playing with a man short the home side dominated the second half, adding a second try scored by Finlay Lennox and converted by Winning who pushed them further ahead a penalty to make it 20-12, only to concede a late penalty, making for a frantic finish but survived to hold on for a win.
Gordonians now travel to Greenock on Saturday to defend their 100% record.
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