'Groundhog Day' for coach as Greens find themselves overrun
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The Greens' 43-17 defeat to Ellon on Saturday felt a bit like déjà vu to coach Kenny Russell.
As with the heavier loss at Dunfermline the previous week, his side were very much in the contest for an hour before being overrun as their hosts ran riot late on.
The lack of strength in depth in their travelling squad was again exposed as they ended up on the wrong end of a 7-3 try count.
Ellon's Josh Andrew had been the wrecker-in-chief in his side's 60-24 victory in last month's Caley 1 clash at Millbank.
The fly-half then weighed in with 30 points from four tries and five conversions.
Fielded at full-back on Saturday, he continued his scoring streak with two well-taken tries to put his side 10-0 in front after 10 minutes.
The game was well contested and a short-range reply from Reece Coghill made it 10-5 at the break.
Caithness enjoyed decent spells just before and just after the interval when they engineered good field position and three times came within a whisker of pulling level.
The pressure eventually told when a slick move down the right flank put Charlie Quinn over for his fourth try of the season.
Euan MacDonald's conversion attempt to put the Greens in front struck a post.
While Ellon's replacements reinforced their effort, the Caithness bench did not cover the positions which needed filling. A back-rower, for example, ended up playing an emergency stint as winger.
The north-east outfit exploited the dislocation, exposing their opponents' vulnerability in the wide channels.
Touchdowns by prop Gavin Smith, centre Kenneth Rodger and scrum-half Ben Shirron had them 31-10 up before Calum MacDonald went over for his debut try, which Euan MacDonald converted.
Further tries at the death came from Ellon flanker Finlay Bridgeford and winger Ryan Dickie, with Andrew adding eight points from the tee.
Coach Russell said: "It was kind of Groundhog Day. We were well in the game for 60 to 65 minutes and then they just took over.
"It was another massive defensive effort from the guys but unfortunately we just don't have the strength in depth we need in certain key positions.
"Once they got their noses in front, they kicked for territory and we were unable to deal with the pressure they created in the wide channels."
Russell was also unhappy the Greens were unable to cash in on the clear scoring opportunities either side of the interval.
He said Ellon are a well-drilled outfit who have improved significantly from last season.
It looks like Caithness will not play for another month after they asked for a postponement of their scheduled home match versus Aberdeenshire on November 12 as they have players going to the All Blacks match at Murrayfield the following day.
That means their next outing will probably be away to Hillfoots on December 3.
Russell said: "The rest gives us a chance to regroup and to work on a few things in training over the next couple of weeks."
Ellon continue to share top spot with Dunfermline, who maintained their challenge with a 38-15 win away to Aberdeenshire.
Grangemouth Stags moved above Caithness into third after a 30-7 home victory over Hillfoots.
