NUMBER CRUNCHING PT 2

“It is tougher to teach and it is tougher to play, “said Trainor. “It was always going to be a struggle. I don’t know why the league went ahead with it.?”

“For teams that struggle at 9, then you are going to struggle at 11. We had two teams dropped out last time because they did not have enough guys.”

Added the Hawks Boss: “I think that the league are trying to run before they can walk. They really need to look at it. “

“You saw it in this game, it really hurt us today. We had a man hurt in the first play of the game and played the full of the first half with a dead leg and could not go on it during the second half.”

“He did not just play Tight End, but he does Linebacker and Long Snapper. So if you take a kid like that out your programme for the day then you are in serious trouble.”

When the Rams reached the BYAFA final last year, one of the suggestions floating around was that the Rams and the Hawks joined forces to compete
as an All Lanarkshire Team, but Collins immediately dismissed that idea as a non starter.

He said: “If you had the Rams and the Hawks as one team, then we would wipe every one clean – no problems at all.”

“You would be talking about 40 people, you would have depth there and you could afford to get a guy injured as you would have another ready to step in – but it kills the game in Scotland.”

He added: “The thing that people tend to forget is why we do this. Personally
I am not doing this because I don’t want to be a winner.”

“I want the guys to enjoy winning and be in that situation. So people have ambitions through their teams to win a lot of things so they way to go is to have the Rams and the Hawks.”

“Aye we are going to struggle but you need the competition there.”

As for the opening game, after exchanging driver at the start of the first quarter, the Hawks started to find their range when quarterback David Orr fired a long pass to rookie Darren Murray, who cut inside for the opening six points.

Robbie Porter then ran in a successful two point conversion to put the visitors eight points up.

The Rams appeared to be struggling at the start of the second quarter when another gambled fourth down attempt failed to pay off.

But the momentum quickly swung back in the home sides favour when Orr was picked off by Simon MacLennan, who had a clear run all the way to the endzone.

Unfortunately the inexperience of the Rams side saw the score chalked off after a needless block in the back penalty.

Minutes later Alan Martin pulled off a great catch from a Kevin McElhinney pass but fell short of the first down marker resulting in another turnover in downs for the North Lanarkshire outfit.

But the home defense stepped up a gear again recovering a Clyde Valley fumble, giving them great field position.

Then the Rams offense finally came through when Martin sprinted the short distance for the far side for the opening six points but failed to tie the scoring when the conversion attempt failed to find its target.

The intensity continued on both sides of the ball during the remainder of the game, but both offenses lacked the decisive spark to make any further changes in the score line.