DESPITE this defeat, any neutral watching the first 14 minutes would never have believed Dunfermline are at the bottom of the league.

They played some excellent rugby and gave East Kilbride very few chances to get into the match with the visitors being forced to scramble well in defence a couple of times to hold the home team out.

The hosts’ two new half backs from Australia were doing their best to gain their first win. The No 10, Zac Zropf, kicked a penalty after 12 minutes when East Kilbride did not release the ball in contact to give Dunfermline a 3-0 lead.

East Kilbride took the lead on 17 minutes when a clever chip ahead down the left wing by Calum Blackwood allowed Ian Brown to seize the ball on the bounce and charge away for the unconverted touchdown.

The second try for the visitors followed quickly when an inside pass from Zropf was intercepted by Richard Murray who zipped over the line. Blackwood’s conversion made it 12-3.

Zropf kicked another penalty for Dunfermline after 22 minutes to reduce the deficit but East Kilbride responded three minutes later. Full back Mark Ellison made a run down the right linking with winger Thomas Hughes which led to No 8 Craig Ferguson crashing through for a try near the posts with a hint of a double movement. The conversion made it 19-6 to the visitors.

Callum Simpson came on at centre at the break for East Kilbride and the away side were awarded their first penalty of the match in the 43rd minute. Three minutes later, they claimed the try bonus point. From a lineout in their own 22, the ball was moved out by the backs to centre Brown, who ran some 70 metres down the touchline to score in the right corner.

A dreadful attempted clearance kick by East Kilbride, fielded by Ross Blanchflower, saw him feed No 8 Liam Quarm, who went on a storming run to score in the 55th minute. Zropf converted the try to pull it back to 24-13.

After this, the match became scrappy with clashes between the forward packs and long lectures by the referee making no impact. Dunfermline still fought to close the gap, with Fraser Cowe stealing from the lineout and making good ground. Play switched to the right and Dunfermline were forced into touch on five metres. East Kilbride cleared the threat and Blackwood kicked a penalty from 22 metres to make the final score 27-13 to the visitors.