Highland take heart from Kelso showing
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DAVE Carson wants Highland to draw huge inspiration for future away days from Saturday’s storming second half performance in the Borders in a 24–21 defeat.
The Inverness outfit’s head coach saw his team go close to overturning a 21-6 deficit in the second half away to National One leaders Kelso.
Highland haven’t won on the road since a 24-16 victory at Dundee in January, with last season’s defeats away to Watsonian, Melrose, Gala and Biggar prelude to the recent loss at GHK.
Concerns over the pattern had Carson last week urging his men to find a way of mustering extra energy from within themselves in the absence of their vocal home crowd.
While they fell just short at the weekend, it was a rousing performance full of strong running later in the match to draw them back to 24-21behind by full-time.
Kelso, with a powerful pack and plenty of legs in the first half, looked spent by the end. Highland’s resilient fitness and energy levels suggested they might have won the game given another five or 10 minutes.
“They never gave up,” Carson said. “Before the break, their big pack got a couple of tries and driven penalties, while we missed a couple of chances to score tries.
“Fair play to the boys. The year before we lost another 40 or so points, but this time they came straight back into it and scored three tries.
“We just ran out of time to win it. Kelso were out on their feet by that point, but we were still strong and playing really well.
“It was just down to a few poor decisions under pressure. That’s something everyone can learn from and we’ll certainly do that on Tuesday and Thursday this week.”
The bonus point was claimed in defeat and Highland now sit nine points below Kelso ahead of next weekend’s trip to face struggling Stewart’s Melville.
“Kelso scored three tries, but they have big boys down there, a big pack,” Carson noted. “Overall, I’m so pleased with the way the boys stuck in during the second half. The heads could have dropped at 21-6 and they could have said ‘let’s just get back on the bus’.
“The mindset is stronger than a year ago and some guys who have come in are really putting a shift in.
“We’ll certainly try to take this game into next weekend against Stewart Melville.”
