CLAYMORES LAY AN EASTER EGG

RHEIN FIRE 31 SCOTTISH CLAYMORES 3

It was another grim night in Gelsenkirchen for the Claymores tonight, suffering another embarrassing defeat at the hands of Rhein Fire.

Having gone in front early in the first quarter thanks to a field goal from Rob Hart, the Scots wilted under intense German pressure which included Jeffrery Reynolds finding the end zone in the first quarter and in the final period.

Jack Bicknell’s men now face a must win fixture this coming Sunday when they run out on to their home pitch, Hampden Park when they take on Amsterdam Admirals.

The Claymores have had a horrendous record on Rhein’s home field having won only once in ten years.

But with their opening defeat against Berlin last week, victory was essential to gain some momentum ahead of next weekend’s first home visit to the National Stadium.

The Scots came out firing on all cylinders on the opening drive of the first quarter, but unfortunately ran out of ammo at Rhein’s 16 yard line and had to settle for Rob Hart splitting the uprights from 35 yards to open the scoring.

The home side stepped up the pressure and six plays into the start of the second quarter broke through the Claymores defensive wall when Jeffery Reynolds cut through to the left hand side for the opening touchdown, which was converted by Ingo Anderbrugge to put the Germans 4 points ahead.

With quarterback Curt Anes at the offensive controls, it looked promising on his first play, when he fired a 19 yard pass to Scott McCready to take the Claymores to the 42 yard line, but was one yard short of a new set of downs.

The visitors were struggling to penetrate a resolute Rhein defense and the home side were soon in sight of the Claymores goal line during the final minutes thanks to 2 big plays from Chad Hutchinson taking the Germans the Scottish 5 yard line.

But thankfully the Scots managed to take some of the shine of the Rhein offense, limiting then to a 20 yard field goal from Anderbrugge, putting them one score in front at half time

Rhein got the best possible lift in the first drive of the second half, when a defensive pas interference call at the Claymores 38 yard line, brought the Germans four yards from the Scots goal line.

Then two plays later, Hutchinson picked off Willie Quinnie for a 9 yard touchdown. which was converted to make it 17-3 Rhein.

With just over 9 minutes of the third quarter remaining, the pressure was on for the Claymores to claw back the deficit before the final period.

But with 5.32 on the clock, the visitors were dealt a devastating blow when a Nate Hybl earmarked for Scot McCready was intercepted by Abdual Howard who returned the ball back up field 79 yards for another six points.

The game was now effectively over and there was still a final quarter to go.

The Claymores were now trying to salvage some pride and had a lucky escape when Nick Davis fumbled away possession but the ball was recovered by Ron Bellamy which kept the drive alive.

But the Scots were not quite so lucky two plays later at Rhein’s 7 yard line, when Maurice Hicks coughed up the ball and was recovered by Charles Burton inside their own end zone resulting in a touchback.

And with 9 minutes of the game remaining the Claymores nightmare continued when a Nick Murphy’s punt was blocked and managed to recover the ball on his own 6 yard line, giving the Fire a tremendous opportunity to drive a final nail in the Scots coffin.

And two plays later, Reynolds duly delivered crossing the goal line from two yards out for another touchdown, which was converted by Anderbrugge to put the Germans 31-3 ahead.

Claymores boss Jack Bicknell decided to give his fringe players a chance to shine, with third string quarterback, Tom Arth, taking over the offensive controls.

But he failed to make any difference on the Claymores lacklustre offense and they had to punt away possession again.

At 5.42 on the clock, Rhein never gave the Scots a look in for the rest of the night, running down the clock for the rest of the game, giving the Scots another nightmare at the Arena Aufschalke.

Now next week takes on a new meaning when the Scots run out on to the Hampden pitch for the first time this season, when they take on the Amsterdam Admirals.

With two defeats under their belt, there is now very little room for error, but they know that if they are to return to Gelsenkirchen later on the summer, they are going to have to find some consistency – and quick!

Assuming there is a decent turnout at Hampden next week, then hopefully that will give them the lift that they need.