A MASSIVE penalty count and two early injuries scuppered Greenock Wanderers' chances of a win at Hamilton on Saturday.

Wanderers, fresh off a fine victory at home to Whitecraigs the previous week, travelled to Lanarkshire with high hopes of victory against a Bulls side who had been relegated to National 4 without a win last season.

But the visitors' hopes suffered a blow when two key players, McGroarty and Knapton, were sidelined early on - one in the pre-match warm-up, the other just four minutes into the game.

Both sides cancelled each other out in the first 15 minutes, with some ferocious tackling from both sides, though it was Wanderers who drew first blood with a penalty from McDaid.

Hamilton missed a great opportunity to level the scores when they missed a penalty in front of the posts inside the visitors' 22, and another penalty from McDaid increased Wanderers' advantage to 6-0.

But the home side weren't about to lie down, and it was they who scored the first try of the afternoon when a well-worked move set up their winger for an unconverted score in the corner.

And Wanderers were hit with another blow when Stone, who had come on to replace Knapton, was shown a yellow card for a deliberate knock-on.

The Bulls took full advantage of their temporary superiority of numbers, and another good move through their backs set up another unconverted try to give Hamilton a 10-6 lead - before a series of penalties allowed the home team to secure a lineout in Wanderers' 22, paving the way for a third score.

The game looked to be swinging towards the Lanarkshire men, but Greenock hit back just before the interval, Knapton crossing for a converted try which reduced Hamilton's interval lead to 15-13.

 

Wanderers made changes at half time, with Love coming on for Hoodless in the forwards and Knox replacing McDougal at scrum half, but it was Hamilton who made the most of the opportunity to regroup at the interval, scoring two quick tries in the first 10 minutes of the second half, with one conversion opening up a 27-13 lead.

Greenock were paying a high price for the number of penalties they were conceding, allowing Hamilton to keep on top of any sorties made by Wanderers, and the home side added to their tally with a fifth score, this time through their forwards after a rolling maul from a lineout which increased their advantage to 34-13.

That all but ended the match as a contest, though Wanderers did at least manage to win back some territory late on and to add two late tries from Robb and Stone to take the final score to 34-23 in Hamilton's favour.

Wanderers had some passages of good play, with some promising individual contributions, but they have a lot to work on this week before their home game against high-flying Ardrossan Accies.

Elsewhere at the weekend, Wanderers' second XV won 36-10 away to Whitecraigs, with Andy Graham, Callum Buchanan, Adam Boag, Declan Bolster and Ross Kelly the try-scorers and Stu Adams adding a penalty and four conversions.

In the youth set-up, the club's under-14s won 40-26 away to Ayr, but the U15s lost 48-24 on the road against Ardrossan and the U13s were beaten away from home by Cambuslang.

The under-16s' home cup tie against Shetland was called off after poor weather prevented the visitors travelling south.

The Wanderers' ladies' first XV, having won their first three matches of the season, tumbled to a second successive defeat on Sunday, losing 38-24 at home to Biggar, while the ladies' second XV, the Wasps, were beaten 26-12 at home by Marr.

Dani Malloy, Tina Hemphill, Elisha Hope and Rhonwyn Spence were the first XV's try scorers, while Laura Hunter and Emma Fulton crossed the line for the Wasps.

Wanderers' club sponsor is MMSEARCH; the ladies' sponsors are Straps of Gourock and Brow House Cosmetics.