Accies skipper remaining positive ahead of ‘Clare clash

OMAGH Accies captain Matthew Clyde was disappointed to see his side throw away a 19-0 and a 26-17 lead against Belfast Harlequins last weekend but he remains positive ahead of welcoming Ballyclare to the Thomas Mellon Playing Fields later today.

Ballyclare have enjoyed a bright start to life in the All-Ireland Leagues after earning promotion to 2C at the end of last term, and Clyde knows he and his Accies colleagues will face a team with momentum behind them.

And after showing lengthy glimpses of what they are capable of against second placed Harlequins, Omagh will go into the game with confidence, keen to build on the positives from last weekend, while learning from the mistakes which led to them losing 31-26.

“It’s another home game for us and what I would say is the guys played with more belief [against Harlequins], they came flying out of the blocks, got a really good start and I’d say if we can build on that, work on what we need to from the second half and cut out those individual errors we should be confident facing any team,” Clyde observed.

“Harlequins are doing really well in the league but it was disappointing. We felt on another day we would have beaten them and we know we have to get off to another good start [against Ballyclare] and keep the pressure on throughout this time.”

At Deramore Park on Saturday, Glenn Kyle’s men charged out of the blocks to take control of proceedings with a 19-0 lead thanks to tries from Matthew Eccles,  Josh Kyle and  Ben Henry, the last two of which were converted by Scott Elliott.

But just before half-time, Quins got back into the game with an unconverted try and that was a sign of what was to come as the home side came out for the second half rejuvenated.

The Quins injected more purpose to their play after the restart, while where there was cohesion and confidence, individual errors and poor decisions crept into the Accies performance and before long there was only two points between the sides a the home team scored two tries, one of which was converted.

Omagh responded well, however, with Conor Spencer scoring and converting a try to make it 17-26, but the home side bounced back from that set-back with two converted tries to seal victory and leave the Accies thinking about what might and perhaps should have been.

“Everyone was very disappointed in the end,” acknowledged Accies captain Matthew Clyde. “It was a much improved performance from last time out, we came out of the blocks fast and followed the game plan. It was working for us, we were putting Harlequins under a lot of pressure, particularly in the first half, but I think, second half, they came firing out of the blocks and just decisions and individual errors really, really punished us.

“It’s really gutting but it was a much improved performance, particularly in the first half. We started really well but it’s disappointing that we couldn’t see it out.

“It comes down to individual errors costing us more than anything. Discipline at times, giving away a penalty and then all of a sudden you’ve given away the territory you’ve had, that was frustrating.

“And when we got the fourth try bonus point after defending quite well, it was good timing for us but then the discipline and individual errors cost us in that second half and we weren’t able to manage it or see it out.”