Last week was a sobering one for the Midlands’ two leading rugby clubs seeking promotion in the National Leagues.
This week you’d expect Howe of Fife to get back on the bonus point bike almost straightaway in BT National League Two, but Colin Robertson’s young Dundee HSFP side need to get something from the tough trip to Inverleith to take on Stewarts Melville if they’re to stay in touch in BT National League One.
Defeats to both sides last week in what were promotion-crucial clashes leaves them with work to do, but High’s situation is by far the more critical. Home losses to Selkirk and last week to Watsonians, both promotion rivals, now probably requires them to get something from away trips.
Stewarts Melville lost out on the play-off last year and have to be regarded as promotion candidates again, lying in fourth.
However, they’ve only played Selkirk and GHA of the top six and lost to them both, and last week struggled to dominate a Hillhead Jordanhill team Dundee beat comfortably.
Howe, meanwhile, were most disappointed that they were never really in contention at Falkirk last week, going down to their heaviest defeat in the league for three seasons.
The team bearing the brunt of any frustration at Duffus Park this week will be poor Livingston, second bottom and struggling after a 65-point hammering by Kirkcaldy at home last week.
The Blues’ romp was one of their best performances of a season which is already providing some grains of optimism for the future, their only serious reverse coming when they had availability problems.
This week is a significant test of a full-strength side who have played well the last couple of weeks, heading to third-placed Musselburgh.
For some things, there is simply no plausible explanation. The duck-billed platypus, people flocking to see reality TV stars at nightclub functions, and the success of Mumford and Sons, for example.
Join to that list Dunfermline’s win over Dumfries in BT National League Three last week.
The unbeaten league leaders facing the winless bottom of the table side, who had avoided defeat in just one game, a draw the previous week at Murrayfield Wanderers to provide their sum total of two points from their first seven games.
It’s not just that Dunfie won, it was not even remotely close 29-8.
Young Aussie fly-half Zac Zropf managed the windy conditions to perfection as if he was from Perth rather than Brisbane, but it was the renewed commitment of the Dunfie team overall that produced what was clearly the shock of the season so far.
Out of the bottom two in one bound, Dunfie now seek to build on that quickly to with a trip to one of the teams they leap-frogged, Hawick YM.
Perthshire meanwhile were well-beaten at home by promotion-seeking West of Scotland, and this week they’ll be seeking to bounce back with a second home match in succession, against Irvine who lie two places and three points ahead of them in the table.
Glenrothes continue to cling to the coat tails of Gordonians in Caledonia One, but only just as they needed another last gasp effort to hold off Mackie in Stonehaven last week.
There should be some little respite with Morgan struggling for form a bit as they come down to Carleton Park from Dundee, while over at Tillycoultry Hillfoots should look to pull away from the relegation spots when they host rock-bottom Ellon.
In Division Two Harris’ early strong start has gone right off the rails with successive home defeats, first in the Bowl to Alloa and last week’s reverse to Carnoustie.
Alloa and Carnoustie now fill the two promotion slots and it looks like Carnoustie have the easier task on Saturday with a visit from Howe of Fife seconds while Alloa take on the Stirling students.
Harris look to bounce back with a west-to-east city derby against Panmure, with just the sole win so far, at Forthill.