Forrester welcomed Penicuik to the Fortress hoping to improve on our stuttering performance against Inverleith the week before. With a few changes made to the team due to the Wedding of Podge & Gillian, some guys would be getting a chance to show what they could bring to the team and stake a regular place.

With the wind gusting it was going to be a testing game as far as handling and kicking were concerned. Within 3 minutes Forrester were attacking the visitors line from receiving the kick off, poor handling and finishing letting us down, resulting in a 22 drop out for Penicuik. Forrester were putting pressure on the visitors, and as they were trying to kick clear from their 22 Sean Broadfoot took the ball in the face as he charged down the kick. Play stopped for a few minutes for treatment, but he is made of sterner stuff and was able to carry on.

Finally on 12 minutes the pressure paid off with Johnny Mac touching down between the posts, which Dudge easily converted. With Penicuik trying to attack from their half, Paddy put in a bone crunching tackle on the ball carrier. With the loud moan at the time we were surprised to eventually see the player resume, although he would have second thoughts about accepting another pass. On the 18th minute Jordan surprisingly evaded a few tackles, stepping and pirouetting his way under the posts, which Dudge converted.

Forrie seemed to ease off after this score, and they never made the same progress up the field. With dropped passes from a few of our experienced players, Captain Horse with 3 and Johnny Mac with one. With the wind behind our backs, positional kicking from hand was wasted as the ball overshot and continued out the dead ball area on a good few occasions.

Penicuik found the confidence to start, attacking the home team, and with poor tackling started to progress towards the home 22, only bad play and mistakes halting them. Forrester were still holding back and allowing the opposition to get the bit between their teeth, and on 36 minutes scored from a maul that appeared to start from just inside the 22. This was converted.

This seemed to be a wake up call for our players, Dave Fish had a great carry and used his speed and momentum to sit down a couple of tacklers before passing to a support runner. Just before the end of the 1st half Sean Broadfoot scored from well worked support play from many of the team, passing and laying off the ball to the next supporting man. Converted by Dudge .

Half Time Forrester 21 – 7 Penicuik.

There was 3 changes made during the break to freshen the team, Calzo for Big C, Neilly for Lucas and Ryan for Haggis with a shoulder injury. With a few honest admissions from the team over the lack of effort and commitment and points from the coaches observations taken on board, there was a better attitude from Forrester at the start of the 2nd half. But Penicuik started the half with an attacking run, in our 22 Neilly ushered the player to the touch-line stopping the attack with a side tackle in to touch.

Forrester stepped up the pressure with good number 8 picks from the scrum, and interaction between Paddy and Sean, which brought forwards and backs into running the line, but squandered good play with spilled passes, one from Ryan, and silly rushed mistakes. As the half progressed the team became more composed and looked like the only ones to score, eventually with a try from Ryan on 51 mins, which was not converted. Buddha made way for Aidan. Johnny Mac was starting to carry well and was rewarded with a 54th minute try, for some reason the conversion was not given, though the side-line support were convinced it was successful. More good work 3 minutes later resulted in a try for Robbie Douglas, and yet again the conversion was ruled out, even though it looked like the wind brought it back to scrape inside the right hand post. Gav replaced Dudge just before the hour, allowing Neilly to take over kicking duties.

Confidence was building as the half progressed, showing with a good steal from Himbo at the front of a Penicuik line-out. Johnny Mac was replaced by Rich Gray on 68 mins. Daniel Park came on at 71 minutes to make his debut, another player who has progressed through our youth system. Haggis came back on at the same time to replace Captain Horse.

As the game neared an end Stookie was to be successful on 76 mins with good support and running to get on the score sheet, which Neilly converted.

Full Time Forrester 43 - 7 Penicuik.
Man of Match:- Johnny Mac.

You could use the cliché saying that this was a game of 2 halves, no doubt the players will agree that they had a lot more to give in this encounter, which will be pointed out at training. With a rearranged game against Earlston at the Fortress this Saturday, it will be a chance to make up and get back to the consistent and convincing performance of a team with high standards and expectations.