WATSONIANS gave assistant coach Donnie Macfadyen the perfect birthday present on Saturday with a hard-fought win over Edinburgh Accies in the Capital derby.
Just minutes after the final whistle had blown on their 38-20 Scottish Hydro Electric Premiership Division One victory the players were in the changing rooms at Raeburn Place presenting Macfadyen, who turned 29 on the day, with a birthday cake.
Wa
tsonians head coach Bruce Aitchison joked: "Eating chocolate cake goes against what Donnie tells the players in his strength and conditioning role with the club, but the team really dug in and played well so I am sure he won't mind them having one slice."
The visitors, who had slipped to mid-table before the start of play and had been lacklustre in defeat to Boroughmuir seven days earlier, led 10-6 at the break. They had a try from winger Tupu Saena and a penalty and conversion from stand-off Mike Ker to show for their efforts, while Accies' points came from two penalties by full-back Stewart Walker.
Just after half-time Saena was yellow carded for the visitors and Accies took full advantage with talented centre Chris Kinloch gliding through the defence for a converted score. At that stage it looked as though the hosts, who were without regular skipper Dan Teague following an ear injury, may have held on for their fifth victory of the campaign. However, just after Saena re-entered the fray home hooker Mark Price was sent to the bin and 'Sonians' forwards upped their game.
New Zealand second-row Andrew Tweed and young No.8 Stuart McInally led the charge and the visitors were dominating possession. As a result returning centre Doug Brown went over for a converted score in the 64th minute and, even with Price back on the pitch, three more tries were added in the final minutes by Tweed, replacement back-row Ian Condell and 21-year-old back-row Jonny Pelter. Replacement stand-off Alex Blair got a consolation for Accies but the points went to the Myreside men who will hope the arm injury sustained by back-row Guy Hills in the opening period is not serious.
Scorers:
Edinburgh Accies: Tries: Kinloch, Blair.
Pens: Walker 2.
Cons: Walker 2.
Watsonians: Tries: Saena, Brown, Tweed, Condell, Pelter. Pen: Ker. Cons: Ker 5.
Edinburgh Accies: S Walker; M Coupar, C Kinloch, I Berthinussen, D Rattray; R Bonner, M Campbell; N Lah, M Price, L Niven, E Stuart, N Pike, J Berthinussen, J Turner, T Drennan.
Subs used: M Strachan, M Smith, A Blair, A Milton.
Watsonians: A Rowe; T Saena, D Brown, R Minto, B Di Rollo; M Ker, J Blackwood; A Fisher, G Wood, K Coertze, T Callander, A Tweed, J Pelter, S McInally, G Hills.
Subs used: N Tunnah, G Scott, J Thrush, I Condell, E Howe.
Referee: G Gordon.
The full article contains 484 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
