Russell praises 'awesome' effort as Greens and Stags share the spoils
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Draws in rugby are few and far between, mainly because of its eccentric scoring system. That is a downside of the sport where too often one of two evenly matched sides is left with no reward.
Saturday's 7-7 tie at Millbank represented a fair share of the spoils for Caithness and their Caley 1 opponents Grangemouth Stags.
After a point-less first half, the second period was bookended by Scott Webster's touchdown for the hosts and Tommy Skelton's leveller for the Stags.
Both sides had plenty of other concerted spells of pressure in the opposition 22 but were repelled by resolute defending.
The visitors had the clear upper hand in the first two scrums, the second of which led to a penalty shot which Skelton pushed narrowly wide.
Grangemouth threatened out wide on a couple of occasions only for the would-be money pass to go to ground or be spilled.
The Greens were reduced to 14 men midway through the half when hooker Hamish Coghill was sent to the naughty step for dissent.
Caithness weathered the short-handed spell with their forwards fronting up to the beefy opposing pack much better than in their 49-15 National Shield defeat at Grangemouth on the opening day of the season.
Visiting centre James Gibson featured with a piercing break up the left wing, while home duo Reece Coghill and Kevin Budge were prominent with some yard-guzzling carries.
Caithness came desperately close to breaking the deadlock in the run-up to the interval.
Cameron Ryder struck an upright with a penalty and then they looked odds-on on to score with a five-metre lineout maul.
The Stags were fortunate not to concede a penalty try when they collapsed the attack and then to win a penalty from the resultant goal-line breakdown.
A subsequent dust-up saw Caithness scrum-half Euan MacDonald and his counterpart Johnny Hugh yellow-carded.
The Greens went ahead two minutes into the second half when Mark Nicolson's feed sent Scott Webster over. Ryder added the extras.
Caithness coped without the yellow-carded Budge and dug in for what proved a late onslaught from the visitors.
Time and again, Grangemouth players were felled close to the line as they desperately sought a way through.
The pressure told a couple of minutes from time when Skelton shimmied his way through to touch down near the posts. His conversion tied the score.
The Greens then won a penalty 40 metres out which Ryder took on, with his kick having the distance but fading just wide.
The visitors thought they had snatched it at the death when Gibson was sent clear only for play to be called back for a forward pass.
Caithness coach Kenny Russell said: "A draw was probably fair. It was two evenly matched teams trading blows.
"We had worked hard on our defence in training and I was really pleased to see how well it performed on the day.
"The effort the boys put in was awesome – they really put their bodies on the line."
While frustrated his side did not capitalise more on their attacking opportunities, he acknowledged the grittiness and steel of the Stags' defence.
Russell was regularly perplexed by the decisions of referee James Fraser.
He said: "I counted 30 penalties against us, many of which we could not understand. We're not a dirty team and the constant stop/start meant we struggled to build momentum.
"It was a game we could have won or could have lost."
Caithness have a testing two games coming up, with Saturday's trek to leaders Dunfermline followed by a trip to Ellon.
The north-east side drew level on points with Dunfermline on Saturday after a last-play score gave them a 38-37 win.
The Greens will be missing Budge for the trip to Fife after the lock turned an ankle in Saturday's match.
Gordie Macleod is unavailable and Grant Anderson is still offshore but Duncan MacMillan is set to return.
In Saturday's other game in Caley 1, Hillfoots won 47-14 away to Aberdeen Wanderers.
Caithness Krakens slumped to a 43-0 home defeat to a resurgent Orkney Dragons on Saturday.
They went down by seven tries to nil in a match which was ended prematurely following a head knock sustained by a visitor.
Tries by Angela Shearer, Hannah Cursiter (3) and Rebecca Scott had as good as killed the contest before the interval.
Further touchdowns from Scott and Skye Taylor completed the scoring, with Nikita Scollie adding four conversions.
The Krakens are at home again on Saturday against Craig Dunain. Kick-off at Millbank is at 2pm.
Caithness Seconds, meanwhile, went down 38-10 to Highland 3rd XV in Inverness in Caley North Division 3.
Coach Cameron Boyd said: "I think we gave them too much respect. We were camped on their line for a couple of long periods and were unlucky not to get a few more tries.
"They scored two late on to make the final score more comfortable than it was."
Yellows' vet prop Tommy Sutherland was among the try scorers in a match which kept the hosts at the top of the table.
Other matches saw Kinloss Eagles defeat Stornoway 56-20 and Turriff prevail 37-31 versus Craig Dunain.
