Greens take heart for crucial run-in with a creditable effort against capital men

Do not be fooled by the comprehensive look of the scoreline. Wharfedale – with several regular first-teamers missing – performed with determination and earned considerable credit from their visit to promotion-chasing Scottish.

The Greens’ confidence, ahead of a string of crucial matches as they fight to preserve their National Two status, will be much improved.

While it has to be said that only rarely were the Dalesmen close to crossing the home line – winger Simon Horsfall was stopped just short after a neat chip over the defenders in the first half, and a second-half drive by the pack nearly breached the Scottish defence – this was much more than a straightforward damage-limitation exercise.

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The free-scoring hosts were made to work very hard for everything they achieved, and their bonus-point try only arrived in the final action of the game.

In fact, the Greens led for the greater part of the first half, courtesy of a penalty from centre Tom Davidson, and thoroughly deserved to reach half-time on level terms, home kicker James Brown matching Davidson’s effort shortly before the interval.

However, four second-half tries sealed an important win for Scottish, Lewis Calder (43), Ben McDougall (50), David Howell (76) and William Lipp (80) taking the honours.

Wharfedale coach Tommy McGee fielded a much-altered line-up from the original selection, a virulent bug having sidelined centres Chris Malherbe and Josef Evans.