BT Cup – 2nd Round

Edinburgh Accies ........... 22

Stirling County ............... 25

Stirling County will entertain Ayr in the 3rd round of the BT Cup, after close call against Edinburgh Accies at Raeburn Place. County secured victory over their National league One opponents with a late penalty, after Accies mounted a spirited second half comeback.

County were without front row regulars Garry Mountford and Mark Hunter, with prop Adam Nicol and second row Callum Hunter-Hill with the Scotland Under-20 squad.

Props Billy Dineen and Adam Wood started in the forward pack, while in the backs Cammy Hughes returned at outside centre. Blair Gilchrist, Craig Black, Cameron McAndrew and Angus Leishman were called-up to the bench.

County kicked-off in ideal conditions in the capital, and kept their hosts pinned back in their own 22 during the early exchanges.

Accies withstood the initial pressure, and from their first incursion into the County half, the visitors conceded a penalty in their 22 after going off their feet in the ruck.

Accies then won a second penalty, secured the line-out ball and drove over the County line to score the opening unconverted try in the left corner, giving the home side a 5-0 lead with 10 minutes played.

With a breeze at their backs, County continued to have the majority of possession, with much of the play deep in the Accies half, and the visitors eventually made the breakthrough.

Scrum half Alex Black finished off a flowing move and found a gap in the home defence to touchdown to the right of the posts. The try was converted by winger Jonny Hope, to put County 7-5 in front after 27 minutes.

Two minutes later County extended their lead, when a robust tackle by Danny Gilmour dislodged the ball from his opponent just inside the Accies' half, and alert stand-off Shaun Treweek kicked the loose ball ahead and won the chase to score a try to the left of the uprights.

Hope kicked the conversion to take the score to 12-5 in County’s favour.

County finished the half strongly, and winger Matt Lamb finished off a left to right cross-field move with an unconverted try in the right corner on 36 minutes.

Hope struck the post with his conversion from the touchline meaning County held a 19-5 lead at the break.

Any thoughts that County had this match was won were quickly dispelled, as they gifted Accies a try in the 44th minute.

Under no pressure, a loose Accies’ field kick was needlessly knocked on by County five metres from their own try line.

From the resultant scrum the eager Accies’ pack pushed County over their line for a try, which the hosts converted, to reduce the leeway to 19-12.

Accies now looked the hungrier side, and aided by careless handling by County in midfield the Edinburgh side dominated possession and territory.

Accies pressure eventually told, with an unconverted push-over try on 62 minutes from a penalty line-out catch and drive on the left side, after the County defence were caught off-side in their 22, bringing the home-side to within two points of the visitors .

County rang the changes, with Craig Black replacing Billy Dineen in the front row, Patrick Nicol came on for Alex Black at scrum-half and Cameron McAndrew made his 1st XV debut for County in place of Ruaridh Leishman in the pack, as County tried to stem the Accies’ attacking play.

From one of County’s rare attacks, Accies were penalised for offside in front of their posts, and Hope gratefully kicked the three points, to give County a 22-17 lead with 15 minutes remaining.

In the closing stages, the Accies forwards secured another 5-metre penalty line-out on the left side, and again drove over for a try in the corner to level the score at 22-22, with 8 minutes to play. The conversion from the touch-line was missed.

County responded from the re-start and mounted a concerted attack through midfield, forcing Accies to concede a penalty on their 22 for not releasing in the tackle, which Hope successfully kicked to edge County 25-22 ahead on 75 minutes.

Accies threw everything at their visitors in the final minutes, keeping the ball in hand, but couldn’t breach the well-marshalled County defence, which held out for the narrowest of wins.