Highland give Cartha Queen's Park a right royal thrashing
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
HEAD coach Dave Carson says Highland produced one of their best performances of the season as they ran in eight tries against Cartha Queen’s Park in a 57-21 victory.
The win at Canal Park moved Highland up into second in National One and within five points of league leaders Biggar as the two teams meet in a top-of-the-table clash on Saturday.
However, Highland face a wait over the fitness of Stuart MacDonald who came off with an ankle injury.
But Carson praised his players for a dominant performance.
“We knew exactly what we wanted to do against these guys, especially as we knew how powerful they were going to be up front.
“They executed everything perfectly which was really good to see. Even with 20 minutes to go, we didn’t want Cartha to score and get a bonus point.
“We kept our defence, which was pleasing to see, and our forwards put in a massive shift in the first 30 minutes.
“They learned quickly and put a massive effort in and controlled it after that.
“Everyone on the pitch did the job exactly how they were told to do it.”
Mike Gordon gave Highland an early lead by scoring the first try.
Scott Fraser hit the first of seven conversions on the day to give them a 7-0 lead.
Cartha hit back to level the scores quickly but Highland stepped up a gear as tries from Ruaridh MacDonald, Oscar Baird and Stuart MacDonald put them 26-7 up.
Cartha responded with a converted try, but a Fraser penalty put Highland 29-14 up at half time.
Highland stamped their authority on the game with Seumas Ross and a second try from Baird, extending their lead to 43-14.
Cartha scored a third converted try.
But Highland controlled the final quarter of the game with tries from Gordon Gregor and Rupeni Rokoduguni giving them a 57-21 victory.
The match was the only game to go ahead in National One, which allowed Highland to leapfrog Heriot’s Blues into second.
Carson is now looking for his team to go all out for victory against Biggar on Saturday in the match of the season where only the champions will go up. He said: “If Biggar win they would go 10 points clear if they get a bonus, which would put them out of sight.”
