Rugby: Dunfermline lose to Strathmore in National Division Four

Gavin Emerson is confident that his Dunfermline Rugby Club senior men's first XV simply had an off-day after suffering their biggest loss of the season on Saturday.

The McKane Park outfit travelled to Strathmore in National League, Division Four, but the in-form hosts made it seven wins from seven by a 50-10 margin.

Emerson's side are third in the table, with five wins and four losses, with their opponents in second with a perfect record and five points behind leaders Ardrossan Academicals, who have played two more matches.

In the other three matches Dunfermline have lost, two of them - against Ardrossan and Stewartry - have been by a four-point margin, whilst Moray won by two in the other.

"It obviously didn't go how we expected the game to go. We thought it would be a lot closer," Emerson said.

"In the two weeks running up to the game, training numbers weren't the best. The week of the game, nine players that were selected to play didn't train that week, so we didn't prepare the best way we could prepare for that sort of game.

Gavin Emerson said that he felt the match would be a closer than it turned out to be. (Image: David Wardle.) "It'll be our toughest game of the season, probably, so that was a little bit disappointing. We went in there a little bit unprepared, but I spoke to the guys this week, and I'm kind of putting it down to an 'off' performance.

"It's not our usual way that we would perform, so it's a little bit disappointing, but these things happen.

"Credit to Strathmore. They played exactly how we thought they would play and they stuck to that plan. They were very physical, dominated in the open field play, which we struggled to live with.

"We didn't get much possession, so we couldn't really create opportunities, and when we did get the ball, we just didn't use it very well, and we made several unforced errors.

"It wasn't to be unfortunately."

The head coach added: "We just couldn't lift our heads when things got tough.

"They went up quite early on, we got back to 10-5, and then that was kind of it, to be honest.

"Even though they got a red card, we didn't really use that to our advantage. Maybe the game was already gone by that stage, so it was a tough one.

"Strathmore were really good, well drilled, knew what they were doing, worked together well, and we just kind of hid away a little bit in defence. There were quite a few missed tackles.

"I don't know if the guys actually went into that game believing that they could do a job, and if you go in with that defeatist attitude, you're never going to do well.

"It's tough but, apart from that game, all the other games, we've been in them, and could've won them, so we just need to look at those positives and move on."