Stewartry RFC beat Kilmarnock to strengthen grip on second spot in Tennent's West One

Stewartry rounded off their home games with another five pointer that puts them in the driving seat for second spot in Tennents West One.

With two matches left, they can cement that with a bonus point victory at second bottom Strathendrick this weekend.

Top spot almost certainly belongs to Allan Glens who have not lost a match, are only one point behind the Blacks and have two games in hand.

Garnock in third place have a slight chance of overtaking the Greenlaw outfit but they would have to beat them on the last day of the season if the Blacks lose in Stirling.

Fourth place Kilmarnock’s visit to Castle Douglas on Saturday heralded a tough scrap as they were unbeaten in seven games since they lost to Stewartry in November.

They got the game under way, helped by a strong easterly wind that saw the ball go deep into the Stewartry 22 where they won an early lineout quickly followed by another. From there they drove ten metres to the Stewartry line for the opening try at the posts in only three minutes. The conversion was added in what was a shock start for the league leaders, 0-7.

As forecast the easterly wind was strong and it saw two Kilmarnock clearance kicks bounce on the main road and into the field on the other side.

Stewartry got going from a scrum restart that saw no 8 Stevie Hogg pick up and set Yates off but he was tackled into touch,

Minutes later Yates broke clear but the ball was knocked on in the tackle.

Stewartry backs were making good inroads to the Kilmarnock half with Yates again making the opening, this time for captain John Picken who touched down under the posts, Armstrong adding the points to make it 7-7 after seventeen minutes.

Stewartry were moving the ball at speed with the Kilmarnock heavy forwards