Back-to-back defeats for Accies

OMAGH Accies produced a second successive off-colour performance on Saturday as they fell to a frustrating defeat to newly promoted Monkstown at the Thomas Mellon Playing Fields.

Having slumped to a 58-15 reverse at Dolphin last weekend, Glen Kyle’s men were keen to make amends at home against Monkstown, but again they flattered to deceive and skipper Matthew Clyde admits they need to improve during their next fixtures against Belfast Harlequins and Ballyclare.

“It’s a bit disappointing because after last week we were aiming to bounce back, especially on our home pitch,” he observed.

“We wanted to improve upon last week and in some aspects we did, but our general performance was pretty disappointing.

“We just didn’t play well. Our general play wasn’t good. Credit to Monkstown, they held onto the ball well and took their chances.

“It was probably just a bad day at the office and we retain the belief that we can play better than we did [on Saturday]. Hopefully it’s a bit of a blip in the season and we’re hoping we can rebuild over the next week for the next game which we’re targeting to bounce back in.

“The guys are all gutted but sometimes things just don’t go to plan. Everyone will be out for training next week, motivated to get better, to right the wrongs in order to get a result against Harlequins.

“I have full belief in the squad and the team that we have that we can get better and play better than we have shown over the last couple of weeks.

“Hopefully we can get a bit of momentum at training this week, work on some of the things that didn’t go right for us and get a win in the next game.”

Omagh started brightly, overcoming an early three point deficit to take the lead thanks to a Ryan Mitchell try converted by Scott Elliott, who also added a penalty. But Monkstown responded to lead 13-10 at the break.

The visitors extended their lead to six points after the restart and Omagh suffered another blow a short time later when Kiwi Conor Spencer was yellow carded and while down a man, Monkstown were able to add to their advantage by scoring a converted try. The Accies bounced back with Mitchell scoring a try but their hopes of a late comeback were dashed when the visitors knocked over a penalty to leave 11 points between the teams.

ACCIES TEAM

D Braden, R Braden, S Creane, Jo Sproule, Ja Sproule, C Huey, S Wilson, M Clyde (cpt), F Lagan, S Elliott, Ry Mitchell, C Spencer, J Kyle, T Lagan, S Ballantine. Replacements: R Mitchell, J Brolly, J Mitchell, M Gibson, B Henry.