Glasgow Hawks did what they needed to do on Saturday to ensure that the on-going uncertainty over whether there will be relegation from the Premiership this season does not directly impact them, by picking up a hard-fought win over fellow strugglers Edinburgh Accies at frosty Balgray.
Hawks are now third bottom of the table, having leap-frogged Hawick. Accies, meanwhile, are nine points adrift at the foot of the league ladder with two games left in the campaign, so they will need to pick up bonus-point wins over Watsonians at home next week and Currie Chieftains away at the start of March, then hope that Hawick don’t get anything from their remaining games against Stirling County away and Heriot’s at home. Basically, it is very hard to envisage the Raeburn Place men escaping a last- place finish.
On bitterly cold day, with treacherous underfoot conditions, and an awful lot at stake, this was not a classic, but what it lacked in finesse it more than made up for in grit.
The home side worked their way into a 10-point lead thanks to a Liam Brims penalty and a converted try from prop Gary Strain. Accies then responded with a try from Robbie Kent, who raced on to Vincent Hart’s chip ahead following some strong running form Neil Armstrong.
Despite losing Fraser Hastie to the sin-bin for a high tackle on Nick Stephen, it was Hawks who struck next with No.8 Gary Adams getting the ball down just before the break.
Hawks lost another player – replacement hooker Paul Cairncross – to the sin-bin during the second half, and again Accies failed to capitalise. The visitors did get a score towards the end through captain Jamie Sole, which made it a one-point game, but it was too little too late.
“A win’s a win for us at this time of the year, and we probably deserved it,” said Hawks head coach Fin Gillies. “That was about the bravest performance I’ve seen from Hawks. The guys have just gritted their teeth for 80 minutes. The boys were just brave. Two yellow cards and we still win; let’s take that.”
Opposite number Derek O’Riordan was understandably disappointed but has learned to be philosophical during this tricky first year back in the Premiership.
“I think we just ran out of time,” he shrugged. “If there had been another five, ten minutes in that game, I’m sure the outcome would have been different. Hawks did all the damage they needed to do early doors in terms of territorial pressure on us, and starved us of any possession.”
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