HILLFOOTS 1st XV continued their winning run by defeating Ellon RFC 12-7 at the weekend.

After a terrific away win last week away in Aberdeen, the 1st XV looked to replicate the performance at home and with both teams having a mixed bag of results so far this season, the game was anticipated to be a close affair.

With a slight breeze and the sun starting to poke through the clouds, it was almost perfect rugby conditions at Tillicoultry.

Head coach Murray Brown asked the team to come out of the starting blocks and take the game to the visitors and that is exactly what happened. After receiving the kick off, the forwards got the home side on the front foot and were making a lot of yards.

Once inside the visitor’s twenty-two, some slick handling saw the ball come to Fraser Christie on the wing. After managing to stay in touch, a sublime Sonny-Bill-esque offload landed in the arms of winger Ross Kinnear who touch the ball down to score. Gregor Manson’ effort drifted just wide.

‘Foots continued to dominate with ball in hand with the forward runners of Daryl Lindsay and Iain Anderson looking especially dangerous. It wasn’t too long before the home side extended their lead with a second try.

With just under 20 minutes played, an attacking scrum inside Ellon’s half was the platform from which the try was scored. ‘Foots attacked down the blindside with Christie again showing his running prowess. Attracting two defenders, he gave the pass to the supporting Ewan Paton to score in the corner, continuing his fine scoring form. Manson found his radar and expertly slotted the conversion for the right-hand touchline.

Unfortunately, the lead was cut short within five minutes with Ellon managing to get a try under the posts. A sloppy pass from ‘Foots was knocked on and from the resulting scrum, the visiting number 8 picked and evaded a number of tackles before diving over the line. The easy conversion was made and Ellon were back in the game.

It was reiterated to the team at half time that the game was ‘Foots’ to lose and to go out and secure the win with a second half performance.

With the game finely balanced, neither side gave an inch. Arthur had a good kick through, but the bounce of the ball was cruel to the captain and went the way for the Ellon fullback. There was nothing of real note in the second half with no further scoring. It was definitely a half for the purists.

With a scoreless second half, this meant that Hillfoots ran out 12-7 winners in a very tough game. The travelling Ellon side put up a good fight but the home side prevailed in the end.

Anderson had a terrific day, stealing no less than five lineouts with Christie showing his class in the backline with a superb performance. Man of the match was awarded to Daryl Lindsay being a running threat throughout the game and some first-rate work in defence.

Hillfoots 1st XV will look to continue their good form away to Grangemouth next week with their last game before a four week break.