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Aberdeen Grammar were made to work hard for their win against a stuffy Kirkcaldy side who dominated the set pieces in a stop, start affair, which eventually came to life when replacement full back Sean Mills took to the field in the second half, setting the game on fire with his energy and direct running, and some accurate place kicking.
The former Gordonians player was in fact not supposed to have been on the pitch as earlier in the week, he had been wrongly diagnosed with a broken wrist, and set to spend time on the sidelines. ''Luckily it was not broken, and I was given the chance to play.In the event I thoroughly enjoyed the game when I came on,'' said Mills.
His coach Ali O'Connor was certainly pleased to see the skilful, hard running full back enter the fray and said:''Up to that point we had been playing second fiddle to the Kirkcaldy pack, and although we led 14 - 7 at the break, the game was still in the balance. Sean changed all that, and seemed to inspire those around him. In the end we were good, convincing seven tries to two winners, but it was good to get back to winning ways after the disappointment of last week's defeat at Musselburgh.''
Grammar started brightly enough, racing into a seven point lead after only two minutes when full back Bryn Perrott nipped over after a fine passing move, involving his backs and forwards before slotting the conversion himself. At this juncture in the game, the Kirkcaldy pack kicked into action, taking control the game, but unable to break down the home defence, restricting Grammar to the odd break out, one of which led to No 8 Greig Ryan cruising over after splendid work from stand and captain who up to this point in the game had been the most enterprising player in the Rubislaw side.
Lifted by the bonus of a second try, Grammar pushed for a third, only to give away an interception try when Kirkcaldy stand off Alex Black ran 80 yards to the home line for full back Finlay Smith to convert, making it 14 - 7 at half - time and game on.
All that was to change when Mills came on, as the pacey, energy of the replacement changed the shape of the afternoon, leading to four tries, attributed to winger Calum Ruxton(2), hooker Andrew Cook and winger Nat Coe, all of which were converted by Mills who even had the temerity to challenge the touch judges who had looked like turning down one of his post splitting efforts.
For the stunned visitors, they had nothing to show for their endeavour, apart from a late try for winger Chris Carey, but the day belonged to Grammar, or more specifically that man Mills.
© Jack Nixon