Greens remain rooted to bottom of table after defeat to classy Fifers
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Caithness again fell to defeat and they failed to register a point as Howe of Fife headed down the road from Thurso with a 44-0 win on Saturday.
One consolation was that the Greens did not suffer the ignominy of being unable to field a team – as happened the previous weekend when they were docked three points for their no-show at Carrick.
However, the National League Three table makes for grim reading with the Millbank side rooted at the bottom with minus two points.
It could have been very different as they made an impressive start to the game – but a failure to convert territory into points was brutally punished by the Fifers.
Caithness coach George Sutherland said: "In the first half we were quite dominant.
"There was a strong wind going from one end of the pitch to the other and when we won the toss we decided to make use of it in case it died down later on.
"We used the wind fairly well. We had Howe hemmed in and were putting a good deal of pressure on them.
"However, we could not convert pressure into points and paid the price for it. They twice hit us on the counter-attack and scored tries as a result.
"When that happens, it gets to you and you start to lose your shape.
"To be fair to Howe of Fife, they are a very classy outfit and were clinical when chances came their way.
"However, from our perspective, our defence was broken down too easily.
"I think will be fair to say that this season is going to be a slog for us every week."
Caithness travel to the capital on Saturday where they will try to get their season back on track against Murrayfield Wanderers.
Sutherland said: "First of all, we are struggling for numbers but we will be able to get a team down there.
"I'll probably be playing – in fact, players coming back from retirement to play for us has been a feature. Stevie Campbell did it against Howe last weekend.
"We will have a few players out with a combination of injuries and work commitments. Evan Sutherland will probably be back within a week once his shoulder injury clears up.
"Marc Anderson is a long-term one. He had a broken ankle a while back and the earliest he might be back could be halfway through the season. But who knows?
"We're also short in midfield with centres Craig McNicol and Dougie Webster unavailable due to work.
"So we're up against it but we won't lack effort and hopefully we can have a closer contest with Murrayfield than we did with Howe."
Murrayfield Wanderers received a boost ahead of their clash against the Greens when they racked up their first win of the season in a thriller at Milngavie.
A 32-27 victory against West of Scotland put the Edinburgh side up to ninth in the table, while their beaten hosts dropped to sixth.
Elsewhere, table-topping Ardrossan Academicals made it three wins out of three with a 38-8 thrashing of Ayrshire rivals Carrick. The latter are second from bottom without a point.
Berwick lie a point behind Ardrossan after their 21-10 win at home to Strathmore, who drop to eighth.
Greenock Wanderers came away from Glasgow to remain in third spot having edged out seventh-placed Hillhead/Jordanhill 42-31.
Lasswade moved up to fifth in the table having made short work of third-from-bottom Perthshire in a thumping 43-13 win.
Fixtures
National League Three
Saturday. September 28 (all kick-offs 3pm)
Carrick v Perthshire
Greenock Wanderers v Berwick
Howe of Fife v Ardrossan Academicals
Lasswade v Hillhead/Jordanhill
Murrayfield Wanderers v Caithness
Strathmore v West of Scotland
