Title-chasing Dunfermline fully extended by never-say-die Greens
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Caithness acting skipper Kevin Brims likened Saturday's joust versus Dunfermline on a sodden Millbank to trench warfare.
His analogy referred as much to the treacherous underfoot conditions as the attritional nature of the Caley 1 contest.
The title-chasing Fifers emerged 28-5 victors but they were fully extended by the never-say-die home outfit whose challenge was only snuffed out when they conceded two tries in the dying minutes.
The Greens endured a miserable opening 15 minutes before finishing the first half with a flourish in which they should have added to Brims' close-in touchdown.
On the evidence of the early exchanges, the visitors looked good value to post a runaway win but they went in at the break relieved to trail by just 5-3 and with a man in the sin bin.
A competitive second half saw Dunfermline forge in front with three touchdowns but were made to wait before securing the all-important win bonus point.
They came with an expansive game plan to capitalise on their sparky back division and, in particular, their pacy back three.
But that foundered in the swampy conditions amid a glut of handling errors and painfully slow recycling at the breakdown.
Caithness were starved of possession and conceded a stream of penalties, which ensured they were penned in their own 22 for long periods.
They were also under pressure in the scrums, losing several of their put-ins against the head, while lineouts were a lottery for both sides.
All the visitors had to show for their early dominance was a Callum White penalty.
In the second quarter, the Greens improved with their go-to carriers Kevin Budge and Hamish Coghill more to the fore.
Full-back Scott Webster launched their first serious attack five minutes from the break with a well-judged grubber and re-gather in the Dunfermline 22. His would-be money pass did not find its target after Coghill was tackled early.
Caithness kept up the pressure, with opposition flanker Dennis Morrice yellow-carded for kicking the ball away after a penalty.
In a flurry of short-range thrusts for the line, Gordie Macleod thought he had scored before Brims barrelled over for an unconverted try.
A swashbuckling 30-metre run by Euan MacDonald saw the scrum-half collared a couple of metres from the line.
Winger Stuart Crichton then launched himself over a pile of bodies to ground the ball over the line only to be penalised.
Caithness regained possession, with the final play of the half seeing the ball held up over the visitors' line.
Despite being short-handed, the Fifers made the livelier restart and took the lead when a sweeping right-to-left move gave winger Harvey Gardiner a run-in.
It was 13-5 after 55 minutes when replacement hooker Connor Crawford took a return pass from a 15-metre lineout and was driven over.
The Greens had decent spells of possession but conceded again 13 minutes from time when opposition scrum-half Cal Clark broke from an advancing scrum to scoot over without a hand being laid on him.
As Caithness ran out of steam, Dunfermline right winger Andrew MacKenzie was denied by a last-ditch tackle.
Scott Webster was prominent with two crunching one-on-one, open-field tackles but the pressure was relentless.
It paid dividends two minutes from time when MacKenzie chipped over Webster and won the race to touch down near the right touch flag.
Clark was helped by a pass rebounding off a Caithness player to grab his side's fifth try at the death.
Caithness coach Kenny Russell was full of praise for the unstinting effort of his side during Saturday's defeat to the Caley 1 leaders.
He said: "We had to do a fair bit of defending and I thought our energy and intensity levels were really high.
"The enthusiasm, passion and determination of the whole squad was evident and I didn't think we deserved to lose by as wide a margin as we did."
Russell was frustrated that, once again, the Greens had not made the most of their scoring opportunities.
He said that a lack of patience, nous and, in some cases, "white-line fever" meant they came away with just five points from their dominant
spell before half-time.
He thought they competed well in the second half but faded badly in the latter stages as fatigue set in.
"I'd say that for 60 minutes, we were there or thereabouts," he said. "It's a pity we didn't get more of our nose in front at the break but after giving so much, the boys were pretty spent towards the end and they started to really stretch our defence out wide."
Dunfermline's immediate past president Kevin Storie said: "We came up with a game plan to get the ball wide as often as possible but the conditions meant we had to adapt it.
"The opening quarter was looking really promising but Caithness dug in and started to put us under pressure and we started giving away penalties."
He conceded that the home side should have scored more than a try from their purple patch at the end of the first half.
Storie added: "It took us a while to open up a lead and we had to work hard to get the bonus point. We're absolutely delighted to come up here and get the result we needed."
With Ellon winning 75-0 away to Aberdeen Wanderers, Dunfermline remain six points ahead of Ellon with a game more played.
Grangemouth's match with Aberdeenshire was postponed because of a waterlogged pitch.
Caithness have a week off before hosting Wanderers in their final home match on January 28.
