Under-strength Greens take positives from heavy loss at Dunfermline
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The Greens' away trip on Saturday to face Caley 1 league leaders Dunfermline was never going to be anything other than highly demanding.
That they were hit by a clutch of injuries and unavailabilities to key players and eleventh-hour call-offs tightened the screw.
Seasoned prop John Elder and full-back Dave McCarthy both came out of retirement, while skipper for the day Mark Nicolson had to withdraw after suffering an injury during the warm-up.
That they ended up on the wrong end of a 64-12 hiding at McKane Park would suggest their chickens came home to roost. But that would be to airbrush the unstinting efforts of the 16-man visiting squad.
Still in the game at 12-24 at the interval, their cause was holed below the waterline by game-ending injuries to half-backs Charlie Quinn and Euan MacDonald.
It was only in the last 15 minutes against an overworked defence that the Fife side cut loose, running in four converted tries.
First-half tries from Charlie Quinn and Stuart Crichton and a MacDonald conversion had kept the Greens in touch by the interval.
They were sandwiched between tries for the hosts from Owen Brown, Harvey Gardiner and Louis Cumming and nine points kicked by Adam Fraser.
Two further tries from Gardiner allowed Dunfermline to pull away before the late blitzkrieg which brought touchdowns for Angus Thomson, Ethan Morgan (2) and Calum White, with Fraser adding five more conversions.
Caithness coach Kenny Russell missed the game as he was at a family function in Glasgow. In his absence, skipper Marc Anderson, sidelined with a long-term shoulder injury, took the team.
Russell got enough positive feedback from his stand-in to believe that the latest outing would not spike their recent feelgood vibe.
"Marc said that we were competing well up until the final 15 minutes and that they didn't deserve to go down by as much as we did," he said.
"We had a real issue trying to get a squad together because of work commitments, holidays and injuries – it was always going to be a backs-to-the-wall performance."
Their cause was badly hit when first MacDonald had to go off with a calf strain and then Charlie Quinn followed him to the sidelines.
MacDonald's exit prompted Nicolson to hirple on to perform to play emergency scrum-half for the closing minutes.
Russell praised Elder for stepping in on Friday night and McCarthy for performing another impressive Sinatra-esque return.
Nathan Quinn was the Greens' man-of-the-match but the accolade could have gone to any one of half a dozen who played out of their skins.
Looking to Saturday, Russell is expecting Reece Coghill, Kevin Brims, Gordie Macleod and Calum Hill to be back for the trip to Ellon.
Charlie Quinn is expected to be fit but Macleod is set to replace MacDonald if the latter is ruled out.
Full-back/winger Cameron Ryder is unavailable, while the Webster brothers, Scott and Douglas, could again miss out.
The Greens will be seeking to avenge their 60-24 reverse at home to Ellon at the start of last month.
Russell said: "Ellon are a big, strong, physical outfit who have a really good number 10.
"We should have a stronger pack against them on Saturday and I'm hoping we can make a better fist of it."
Ellon remain level with Dunfermline at the top but behind on points differential after they crushed Aberdeen Wanderers 79-0.
In the other game, Aberdeenshire had a 36-24 home win against Grangemouth.
