Stewartry RFC recorded their first win of the 2024/25 season with a hard-fought 23-19 home win over Dunfermline on Saturday.
The result also sees David Thomson claim his first victory as the new head coach and lifts his side off of the bottom of the National 4 table.
It was the home side that started the stronger, scoring the opening points of the game from the kicking tee through winger Andrew Picken.
Stewartry kept the pressure on, continuously breaking through the Dunfermline line and their reward came after 20 minutes when flanker Beauden Fleming finished off a flowing move to put the Blacks 10-0 up.
The away side hit back, however, and scored two well-worked tries of their own to blow the
game wide open once more.
The two teams then traded blow for blow for the majority of the match, with Picken keeping the scoreboard ticking to give Stewartry every chance of grabbing the win.
Stewartry’s Lochy Spence and Finlay Smith were causing all sorts of problems for the
opposition in attack but it was forward Murray Wright who reacted first to pounce on a loose ball and dive over the line for the host’s second try of the game. With just over 10 minutes to play, the Greenlaw outfit led by just four points.
Dunfermline worked hard to find a winner in the dying moments of the game but Stewartry’s goalline defence and determination to meet the challenge helped them hold onto the result. James McCulloch picked up the Player of the Match award for his strong carrying and link-up play that kept Stewartry on the front foot.
Thomson’s men now sit ninth in the league and are at home once again this weekend as they welcome Linlithgow to Castle Douglas.
