Caithness Claim First-Ever Away Win at Ellon in 31–30 Thriller

We started the game a bit sloppy and unconnected, with a couple of early mistakes. Ellon opened with an early try as a result of this. However, we bounced back with a try of our own scored by Cole Wilson with a carry a few metres out. There were some brilliant backs ball play throughout the game and gaps were especially exploited by Man Of The Match Max Kennedy. Our second try reflected this, scored by Gregor Mill on the edge. In defence, we showed real intent and Duncan Mackay and Duncan MacMillan both made some massive hits throughout the game. As the game progressed there was a lot of back and forth penalties for offsides and high tackles which stumped the flow of the game for both sides. Scott Webster was yellow carded as a result of an offside penalty. Fortunately, another brilliant backs play saw Max Kennedy go over for a try to put us in a comfortable spot. Then, almost as quick as we scored our a try, a mistake at the back caused Ellon to charge down a kick and score to put them straight back in the game. Then, with some ill-discipline by us, penalties got Ellon back down into our red-zone and they came away with another try. Ellon had a quick defensive line-out which caught us off guard a couple of times, however when we got the the maul moving we capitalised from it, with a try from Craig Gunn at the back of the maul. In the scrums, we seemed to have the upper hand with Michael Gunn scrummaging well. It was very tit for tat with the tries, which kept it a competitive game, but our conversions were completed by Marc Anderson, which edged us in the points margin. Unfortunately, due to a number of penalties, Scott Webster was issued another yellow card for a high tackle which saw him see a red card as it was his second. This put us on the back foot and Ellon would capitalise. Another penalty saw Douglas Webster get a yellow card which put us down to 13 men (I think he wanted to copy his brother). Fortunately, a good backs ball out-wide saw Marc Anderson go over for a try to keep us ahead. Then, a straight red card was issued to Cole Wilson for a high tackle, which left us temporarily with 12 men before Dougie came back from the yellow. The last 12 minutes of the game were played with 13 men and the Caithness boys fought with heart and aggression to keep Ellon from winning. In the final moments of the game, Kevin Budge managed to get a great turnover and Marc Anderson kicked the ball out for Caithness to win the game.

Ellon 30-31 Caithness