Lenzie hold on to edge out Oban in thriller

On a cold, wet and muddy afternoon this BT West Division 1 fixture was a match that had the large vocal home support on tender hooks right to the last play of the game.

Great credit must go to both Lenzie and Oban for serving up such a competitive and exciting game in very difficult conditions.

Lenzie had the advantage of the wind in the first period and young Brodie kept Oban pinned in their own half with some excellent tactical kicking.

However some poor discipline from Lenzie and excellent defence from Oban ensured that the score remained pointless after 15 minutes.

The home side continued to pressure Oban and made the break through when Menday crashed over from close range to open the scoring with a converted try.

The pattern of the game continued and Oban were penalised which allowed Brodie to stretch Lenzie’s lead to 10-0.

Oban continued to absorb the pressure and were unlucky not to make more of a break out. However McDermott was on hand to snuff out the threat.

As the game progressed towards the break it was clear that Lenzie wanted another score to indicate their territorial advantage and they were rewarded when Williams ran in a great team try to bring the score to 15-0 at the break.

Lenzie were now playing into a strong wind and started the second period well by scoring another great score by Brett extending their advantage to 20-0 which appeared comfortable.

However Oban had other thoughts and put Lenzie to the test before scoring two forward tries. This brought the score to 20-12 with Oban now on the front foot.

Lenzie’s defence held out with Sutherland, Slade, McKenzie and Condie making important tackles, while Mackay offered a threat on the wing for Lenzie and was unlucky not to break free on a number of occasions.

The home side survived the storm to steadily make their way up the pitch with great forward drives by Scouller, Slade and Letford which allowed McCrae to race over from two yards to extend Lenzie’s lead to 25-12 and achieve the bonus point to the relief of the home support.

But Oban were far from finished and their heavy pack took advantage of an excursion into Lenzie’s half to rumble over the line from close range for a converted try to bring the score to 25-19 with five minutes to go.

Oban once more gained good territorial advantage and broke through only for Nisbet to make a heroic tackle in the corner to force a scrum to Oban for the last play of the game.

Lenzie’s scrum dug deep and Oban knocked on when they moved the ball to bring the match to an exciting end and a tremendous win for Lenzie.

This was a very hard match and unfortunately Lenzie suffered some injuries to key players on the day and hope that they will not be out for too long.

Player of the day was young Brodie who showed some exciting potential.

Next week Lenzie are away to close neighbours Allan Glens with a 2pm kick-off.