Highland have a good Ayr day in first outing on opening day of National One in Inverness
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HEAD coach Dave Carson insists he was very happy with Highland’s winning start to the new National One season – but knows his team can get better.
The Canal Park hosts secured a 26-17 victory over Ayr, with a big home crowd in attendance amid ongoing centenary celebrations.
With just two tries to Ayr’s one, though, Carson believes there is plenty of room for improvement in coming weeks.
Despite Highland’s overall dominance en-route to the opening day four points, the visitors were able to hit them on the break and remain a couple of scores from a result.
“It was a great, winning start. I’m delighted,” head coach Carson stressed. “It was a very similar game to last year when we never quite got away from them, but we were always that six to nine points ahead.
“The boys played really well. Our stand-off Scotty Fraser kicked everything he was given and made the difference.
“Losing your first game, especially at home, can really set you on the back foot so to get the four points really sets us up for Aberdeen Grammar next weekend.”
A poor start for Carson’s team saw winger Mo Zimmerman kick Ayr into an early lead with a penalty that seemed to spark Highland to life.
Owen MacDonald claimed the opening try for the home side after just seven minutes and Fraser kicked the difficult conversion on his way to a 16 points tally for the day.
Strong forward play led to a converted try for Stuart Butler, with Zimmerman’s second penalty leaving the scoreline at 17-6 by the break.
That became less comfortable in the second half with a break-out try by Ayr flanker Michael Kirk. With the conversion missed, Fraser’s accuracy with two more penalties was crucial but Zimmerman’s third penalty made it a nervy 23-17 entering the final minutes.
Fraser soothed those anxieties with yet another fine kick.
“It was our first competitive game, so there will always be things to improve on. We didn’t keep the ball at times and maybe rushed it, trying to get the miracle off-load in particularly in the first half,” Carson said.
“We scored two good tries, but probably left a couple out there. It was a good start, but there’s certainly room for improvement this early in the season.”
