CALLY ROMP HOME TO FIRST VICTORY
Four touchdowns from Ian “Sparky” Dick helped the Roughriders romp home to their first ever franchise win at Paisley’s Robertson Sports Centre against a brave but depleted Pyros squad. The Roughriders had the game won by half time courtesy of two Johnny Butler touchdowns along with scores from Dick and Ivy Paterson to give then 24 unanswered points. Cally added two more converted touchdowns in the third quarter and looked to be heading to not just their first ever win, but also their first ever whitewash when Dick scored his third touchdown of the day Then after some slack offensive play late in the fourth quarter, the Pyros who were only able to field 15 players in their line up, got some just rewards for their never say die attitude when Alistair Kilmovicz dived over the goal line for Paisley’s first ever touchdown. But the Roughriders had the final word on their next drive when Sparky sprinted into the endzone for the fourth time. After last week’s demoralising defeat by Glasgow Tigers the week before, this was a major confidence booster for the side after having gone a season and a half with no points to show for their efforts. “It would have been nice to play against a full unit,” said Dick: “I know from last year what that was like. It was a hard game for then with the guys getting tired.” “It is nice to see everybody improving, making tackles and all that. Everything seems to be working and coming together, which is good to see. “ “There were some good blocks going on there, especially with the outside ones.”
He said: “We played defense better than we have done before, moving the ball well and this was the first time that we had ever scored.” “We only had fifteen guys, some of then in wrong positions but we are still doing OK.” After not being able to field a full squad for their match against the Sheffield Hallam Warriors the week before, things looked ominous for the Pyros, who were hovering on the borderline in terms of squad numbers compared to the Roughriders. And things could not have started any worse for the home side on their opening drive when a high snap on their punt attempt saw the ball soar over Ewan Bennett’s head and was downed deep in Pyro’s territory. Ivy Paterson then powered up the middle for Cally only to be stopped short of the endzone. |
For
the Pyros, this was the latest leg of what has been a tough season for
the College League rookies, but Head Coach Craig Cunningham reckons that
there were plenty of positive points to take from this game that they
can build on.
