National League Cup Semi-final result Lasswade 24 Allan Glen’s 23

Having come within a 5 point win of being Champions of National League 2, this semi-final of the National League Cup offered the possibility of getting something from the season and an appearance at Murrayfield. Allan Glen’s were in a similar position, being currently second in National League 3 but more likely to drop a place when current third placed Orkney take on already relegated Hamilton in Kirkwall next Saturday. Either way this was two in-form teams with something to play for.

Recent weather had allowed the pitch to firm up and the whole game was played in bright sunshine with an unusually moderate breeze from Rosewell.

Allan Glen’s kicked off into the breeze and got into their stride first and soon had Lasswade on the back foot in their 22. They were rewarded within 10 minutes when Macaulay slotted a straightforward penalty.

Glen’s claim on territory and possession continued and just 7 minutes later their powerful centre, Ekevati, sliced through the Lasswade defence to touch down beside the posts and Macaulay extended the lead to ten points. Macaulay added another penalty as the clock ticked into the second quarter.

Now 13 points behind Lasswade were stung into reaction. From the restart the hosts strung together a series of rucks and interpassing to enable Sinclair to touch down wide out but still within Matt Smith’s range. Four minutes later, more powerful rucking on the visitors’ line finished with Cook diving over and Matt Smith put Lasswade ahead with the conversion.

That lead lasted barely a minute when, having gathered the restart kick, a careless floated pass was gratefully intercepted by Mcdonnell with a short stroll to the posts. Macaulay couldn’t miss the conversion. The last ten minutes of the half continued to be hotly contested but only Glen’s profited from another Macaulay penalty to make it 14-23.

From the start of the second half Lasswade had a slight edge and, ten minutes in, Robertson completed a series of rucks on the Glen line to crash over with Matt Smith closing the gap to two points.

The next twenty minutes saw Lasswade doing most of the attacking and Glen’s successfully keeping them out. With 10 minutes to play,Glen’s cause took a blow when their influential centre Ekevati was yellow carded for a high tackle and, with every point count counting, a Smith penalty put the home side ahead by the narrowest of margins. For most of the home support those last ten minutes seemed more like an hour and the no-side whistle was greeted with a huge cheer and an almost audible sigh of relief from the players.

Lasswade’s opponents in the Final will be Falkirk who ousted Newton Stewart in a similarly close encounter 21-20. Falkirk will finish third in National 2 where each side won their home leg with an aggregate score of 81 -76 in Lasswade’s favour. Expect fireworks.

The Final is scheduled for the “big pitch” at Scottish Gas Murrayfeld this Saturday 27 April with kick-off at 1.45pm.