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After an instantly forgettable first half,
which saw both clubs produce a chess-style stalemate, the match sprung into life
in the 2nd half.
Broughton turned the screw midway through the
2nd stanza to earn a home tie against National 3 side Lismore in the Quarter
Final on March 12th.
Broughton's 1st try came after some fine
forward play resulted in a ruck in the Alloa 22. Arrandale, effective as
ever at the base, executed a fine chip over the defence and sub Andy Dalgleish
was the better of the chasing parties to judge the bounce in the dead-ball area
to score the opening points of the day.
It was certainly not a day for the rugby
purists. A combination of some eccentric refereeing and, let's be brutally
honest here, some pretty poor rugby, made for interesting comments from the
sidelines!
A tousy affair throughout, this Cup tie
threatened to spill over as both sides looked to edge a step closer to
Murrayfield.
Daylight between the sides was gained with 15
minutes to go when Hamish Martineau raced in under the posts after the ball
moved from the middle of the pitch to the speedster on the wing, passing through
no fewer than 4 sets of hands in quick time. Paul Hamer, who had a poor
kicking day by his standards, converted his only kick of the day.
The match was put out of a stuffy home side's
reach with seconds left on the clock when 'Ned' Kelly collected the ball from
Arrandale's clearance from a ruck, and he through a beautifully flighted long
pass out to player/coach Neil Mathews who danced around the isolated Alloa
full-back to go over for his moment of glory.
The 'Ay-oop Sidney' Man of the Match Award
went to Stan Smith. The normally placid, gentle giant of a man caused
tongues to wag after the match for his aggressive no-nonsense approach.
So, only 2 matches til Murrayfield. How
do we have left in the Tourney? The Quarter-Final line-up is as follows:
Edinburgh Northern v Hawick Harlequins, Duns
v Ardrossan Acads, Helensburgh v Greenock Wanderers, Broughton v Lismore
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