HILLFOOTS RFC suffered their first defeat of the season, losing 22-16 to Strathmore 2nd XV.

The Foots travelled to Forfar aiming to build on their home win the previous week, whereas the hosts were hoping to bounce back from opening day defeat.

The visitors made five forced changes, with several players unavailable from last week, but this didn’t affect the Clacks side too much in the opening phases.

Ian Anderson and Robert Hodge were making good yards from their carrying, but Strathmore were able to stand tall and turn the ball over before they could capitalise.

Strathmore broke the deadlock first, opening scoring from a scrum inside their own half, with their centre able to go through the defensive line and play in the winger to give the hosts a 7-0 lead.

Ill-discipline proved to be Strath’s undoing in the first half, with their flanker seeing yellow for a third late hit and sent to the sin bin.

Callum Williamson got the Foots on the scoreboard with the resulting penalty kick – he then followed it up with a second kick to narrow the gap.

Foots went into the break 7-9 ahead, but were themselves reduced to 14 men after Ross McNeil was sent off for a high tackle.

The hosts took full advantage of the man advantage and scored their third try against the run of play.

Strath then won a penalty with just 10 minutes to go to extend their lead by six points, with not enough time for the Clacks side to respond.

Head coach Graeme Simpson said: “Saturday’s game was certainly a physical contest for the players.

“Unfortunately, we weren’t able to control possession in key areas to get the scores we needed but there are a lot of positives to take from the game.

“For us, it is now about putting it all together and I look forward to watching the players do that next weekend.”

Hillfoots are on the road again to face Crieff & Strathearn who sit just one place above them in the league and are two from two.