Wolves weather the hurricane to win in Dundee
Dundee Hurricanes 0 – 12 Edinburgh Wolves

• Wolves take first place in Scottish Conference
• First Wolves victory against Dundee Hurricanes in Wolves’ history .

Sunday 1st of May: Dawson’s Park Dundee

In weather more suitable for ducks the Edinburgh Wolves American football finally achieved a victory against east coast rivals Dundee Hurricanes, this weekend in a game billed as a battle for east coast supremacy.

For Edinburgh this was their 1st win of the season having previously drawn at home to Glasgow Tigers.

It was also their first win against Dundee in the British League, lifting the Wolves to the top of the Scottish conference.

The game was close and low scoring due to difficult conditions on the ground. However behind a strong running game and outstanding teamwork the Wolves were able to take control of the match and earn the victory.

In the first half driving rain and wind made passing difficult forcing both teams to rely on the running game.

After a scoreless first quarter with less than 6 minutes remaining in the 1st half Wolves Runningback David Molloy opened the scoring with a 6-yard touchdown run. This was Molloy’s first rushing touchdown against Dundee in seven games and was a just reward for the outstanding line play and lead blocking from fullback Sebastien Ossywa. Molloy himself described the play.

“It seemed a lot longer than 6 yards – but the line did a great job and Seb (Sebastien Ossywa) gave me a crucial block to leave me one on one with the last Dundee defender who I managed to twist past to score. It might be my name on the record books but the whole offence scored on that play!”

From there on the game became one of field position. With the weather easing up in the second half the passing games of both teams started to spark a little more. Yet it remained a battle in the trenches with the two sets of offensive and defensive lines battling it out to put their team in a position to win. As with all battles of field position it was the kicking and punting units that were crucial.

With the Wolves defence holding firm and containing the Hurricanes offence thanks to disciplined play, the Wolves were able to take advantage of the punting of Danny Guy, to force Dundee to have a longer path to the end zone.

A path which thanks to the tenacious display of the Wolves defence, Dundee were unable to complete. While Edinburgh only gave up one turnover their defence were able to register five turnovers (four interceptions and one fumble), which was a result of the harrying of Dundee’s quarterback by the Wolves defensive line and good coverage by the linebackers and secondary.

As the clock kept ticking in the second half it seemed that Edinburgh would end the game holding on to a close six-point lead.

However following a punt by Danny Guy which pinned Dundee to their own 5 yard line with less than a minute remaining, Dundee were forced to pass on every down in an attempt to tie up the game.

This backfired when Wolves Linebacker Dan Cameron intercepted the ball at Dundee’s own 15-yard line and ran in for the score untouched to seal the result for the Wolves with 20 seconds to go in the game.

Said a proud Wolves Head Coach Pete Laird: “We played tough, we played smart. We had a handful of penalties and that’s something we’ll want to work on, but otherwise everyone stuck to the game plan and did their job."

" It was a textbook performance in many ways as we controlled the clock, won the turnover battle, played good field position and had fewer penalties than the other side."

" The team earned this victory and everyone did their part. It was a close game thanks to the conditions underfoot but we stuck in there and never once let our heads drop. A real team effort”

With this being only the second game of the campaign Coach Laird was keen not to let this first Wolves victory against Dundee to go to the team’s head.

“Of course it was a great performance, and the win has been a long time coming against Dundee. But they (Dundee) are a tough team and were semi finalists last year as well as being Scottish conference champions only last year."

I’m sure they’ll come back at us even harder next time. But as pleasing as the victory is, we have to remember that we aren’t the only team to beat Dundee this year, we’ve still got to play eight more games in the regular season and one victory this early doesn’t mean we can stop working hard."

"Our next game against Glasgow will also be tough and that’s where we need to turn our attention to now.”