Dunbar travelled to Edinburgh to play Corstorphine Cougars, looking to keep the pressure on the top two in the East 2 League. The visitors had to shuffle the team around with Gary Peebles moving from centre into the pack.
Dunbar started the stronger and took play into the Corstorphine half from the start. Dunbar had the best chance after 9 minutes when Jamie Peters broke through and offloaded to Walters from a couple of metres but the scrum half knocked on. Play was now very even with both teams struggling to get on the scoreboard. Greg Patrizio had a couple of half chances as did John Peebles but the home defence stood resolute.
Corstorphine, were the first to score with a penalty after 25 minutes to give them a 3-0 lead. Dunbar came right back up field and were awarded a couple of penalties that were kicked to the corner. Corstorphine managed to clear each time but Dunbar kept coming back and John Peebles looked to have scored in the corner but the winger had a foot in touch. The referee had been playing advantage and Dunbar had a penalty under the posts. After a couple of drives captain Greg Patrizio got the touch down and Charlton converted to give Dunbar a 7-3 lead after 26 minutes. Both sides again fought for every ball but territory was rarely given up easily. With 35 minutes gone the home side looked likely to score but a knock on at the critical moment let them down. Corstorphine came back and a kick into space gave Dunbar full back Penrose no option but to carry over and give the home side scrum advantage. From the set piece the Corstorphine scrum half burst through to score an unconverted try which was the last play of the half.
Dunbar shuffled the team around to try and give a bit more thrust in the back division after the break. It was Corstorphine who scored first after the break after some poor tackling initially gave away a lot of ground. Dunbar came back strong from the restart and Gary Peebles crossed for a try under the posts with Charlton converting. Dunbar were making some great breaks through Patrizio, Peebles and Penrose in particular but it lacked support from the forwards. Corstorphine put over a nice drop goal on 71 minutes to extend their lead to four points. Dunbar tried to make a come-back but could not get over the line and the home side hit them with a sucker punch with a try on 75 minutes. Dunbar finished the match camped on the home try line but could not get anything in return. Too many times Dunbar were guilty of being too predictable and will need to improve for the visit of Gala YM. Dunbar have five home matches and only one away match so will be looking to finish the season strongly.
Final Score – Corstorphine 25 – 14 Dunbar
Match report and photos – David Wilson, Chairman Dunbar RFC