Arnold Clark Men's Premiership: Marr win condemns Edinburgh Accies to relegation

03/22/2025 05:54 PM

Marr 35

Edinburgh Accies 21

IAIN HAY @ Millbrae

IT was a relegation dogfight at Fullarton, and when they needed it most, the home side turned on the style to claim maximum points, confirming their visitors will play in National League One next season. Marr, meanwhile, live to fight another day, but must win their three remaining matches and rely on Glasgow Hawks or Kelso slipping up.

"I'm absolutely delighted with the result, we knew both teams would be desperate, but the boys stuck to task which was brilliant to see," said Kenny Diffenthal of Marr, as he saw his charges complete stage one of their potential great escape.

Marr dominated territory in the opening half hour but only had a Maccenzie Duncan try, which had been successfully converted by Colin Sturgeon, to show for it, and when a dog-legged defence allowed Accies winger Joe Townshend to breeze clear, it looked like a sucker punch would be struck. However, Richard Thompson's failure to release Max Wallace earlier, and then solid Marr defence saw the visitors repelled, and instead the hosts to finish the half with a fine try by Callum Inglis, following a step and dummy by Sturgeon.

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"I wouldn't say I was worried [about not scoring many points], I was expecting it to be a bit edgy because of the position of both teams, but I was happy that we had possession dominance, and how we were holding on to the ball,” added Diffenthal. "All we can do now is worry about ourselves and the next three games."

In the second half, Marr were more clinical when chances presented themselves. Duncan spotted a gap round the fringes of a ruck, and once the hosts found themselves camped on the Accies' try-line – as they had done with frequency in the first half – they weren't going to be denied on this occasion, Ben Johnston finally got under the tackles and over the line.

A seemingly tough call on Duncan for a high tackle when he ripped the ball from an opponent in the 22 gave Accies a glimmer of hope, replacement scrum-half Patrick Ritchie recovering the ball from a backwards moving scrum and finishing, but Accies then failed to deal with Inglis' restart which rolled into touch in ‘Coffin Corner’.

Play was stopped shortly afterwards when Cole Imrie took a bash on the head at the breakdown, and Marr, who hadn't always shown set-piece dominance, won the scrum and possession back within 10 metres of the Accies' line, with Glasgow Warriors academy prospect Duncan the man to claim the try bonus-point which may yet prove vital.

A blistering break on the right flank by Jack Scott, taking at least three Accies players out of the game, gave Scott Bickerstaff the easiest of finishes before Accies put a bit more respectability on the scoreline with tries by Calum Crookshank and George Shannon, sandwiching a Duncan yellow-carding for a no-arms tackle on visiting captain Neil Armstrong.

Having seen his side just get relegated, Accies Iain Bertinhuissen was in reflective mood.

"Probably for about the first 30 minutes Marr kept the ball really well and put us under pressure but had only scored once, then we got up in their 22 and we didn't keep hold of the ball,” he mused. "We'd fronted up pretty well defensively, but to concede just before half-time was a bit of a shame. Ultimately, that moment and then letting them score just after half-time as
well … I think that sums up the game.

"They were more physically dominant in certain areas and it took us a while to react but I'm proud of the effort to come back into the game, and we could maybe have got some more just rewards for that, but Marr were deserved winners."

"If I'm honest, and we're honest as a group internally, we've not been good enough over a 22 game season. Your position in the league doesn't lie, you can lose games by 80 points or five points, we've lost too many games.

"That's something we'll need to look at as a group, but we have a fantastic set of players here. We've got to regroup, we've got Watsonians at home next week, so what a great challenge that is to end the season, and then we'll start to plan ahead."

Teams –

Marr: C Inglis; J Scott, S Bickerstaff; L Jarvie, J Jacobson; C Sturgeon, G Baird; S Khan, B Jardine, C Miller, C Young, D Andrew, M Kirk, B Johnston, M Duncan. Subs: B Sweet, C Steel, A King, A Orr, E McAra, G Beckwith, J Broadfoot

Edinburgh Accies: V Hart; J Townshend, M Wallace, N Armstrong, F Lindsay; S Wells, C MacDonald; C Imrie, F McAslan, C Crookshanks, R Thompson, S Whittaker, G Davis, J Binstead, T Drennan. Subs: G Shannon, G Ratcliff, C Bain, A Wood, P Ritchie, C Allan.

Referee: Sam O'Neill

Scorers –

Marr: Duncan 2, Inglis, Johnston, Bickerstaff; Cons: Sturgeon 5

Edinburgh Accies: Tries: Ritchie, Crookshank, Shannon; H

Scoring sequence (Marr first): 5-0; 7-0; 12-0; 14-0 (h-t) 19-0; 21-0; 21-5; 21-7; 26-7; 28-7; 33-7; 35-7; 35-12; 35-14; 34-19; 34-21.

Yellow cards –

Marr: Duncan

Player-of-the-Match: Two-try Maccenzie Duncan's copybook slightly blotted by the yellow-card, Michael Kirk was all-action, carrying hard and hitting breakdowns, but for carrying super-hard, dropping shoulders and opponents in one fluid motion, and rattling ribcages, Blair Jardine takes the award.

Talking Point: Had my first experience of "dog interrupting play". A kick ahead by Callum Inglis saw the contact area form right beside the pitch-hside entrance, so a black Labrador went looking for the turnover.

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