Report by Dave Hamilton
The first round of the League Cup found the Blues travelling to North Ayrshire to face a Garnock side that would be high on confidence following a very successful league campaign. My feelings prior to the game were that the home side would throw everything they had including the kitchen sink at the visitors in an effort to unsettle the side from two leagues above them.

The Blues arrived with only 15 players for their task in hand which meant no leeway for injuries or anyone having a poor day at the office.
It was a bitterly cold wind that blew in from Kilbirnie Loch to meet the teams and it must be said the playing surface was in magnificent condition for this time of the season.
As suspected Garnock came thundering out the blocks and pinned the Blues back into their own half for the majority of the first half. The home side took the lead early on with a converted try, an unconverted try and a penalty and after 20 minutes it was 15-0 to the home side. The Blues also had a couple of yellow cards in this period leaving them with 13 players for around 7 minutes.
The home side picked up a yellow card during the first half also which briefly gave the Blues a man advantage for a few minutes.
It has to be said that the yellow cards for both sides were down to players being committed and without any malice involved.
The Blues absorbed all the pressure put on them and for the next 15 minutes with the home side running into a brick wall despite lots of effort no further progress was made as the Blues began to dig deep and control the forwards area, which in turn allowed some opportunities to probe the home side via the back line.
Garnock were looking a bit frustrated at this point, although ahead in the game, they were unable to add to their lead and were running out of options attack wise as the Blues sat in and resolutely wore down the home side.
Kirkcaldy scored a well worked try after the pack eased its way into the Garnock 5 metre line and Kieran Mitchell crashed over for a try, duly converted by Gavin McKenzie. 15-7 going into halftime.

The second half began as the first ended, with the Blues going through the gears nicely and Garnock unable to contain the Blues as the pack dominated and the backs received some decent ball to attack with. Scrum and line out dominance proved to be crucial and to be fair to Garnock they stuck to their task but definitely they had never been up against a visiting pack as motivated as this one.

The Blues scored four more tries in the second period, courtesy of Stevie Milne, Conar Littlejohn and a brace for Callum Kennedy along with three conversions from Gavin McKenzie. Kirkcaldy took the lead and held out with a strong defensive display after Garnock emptied their bench and brought on fresh legs and pushed the Blues all the way as they inevitably tired towards the end of the match.
Having said that the Blues never yielded an inch at scrum time, their defence was generally well organised although tired missed tackles allowed Garnock back into the game, the Blues never looked like throwing in the towel even when the referee played 45 minutes in the second half.
Final score 29-33.

Garnock did themselves proud in this match and are a side to be watched in the future, the difference in the game was the resilience of the Blues pack, who, despite going behind in the game weren’t having any of it, there are some leaders and warriors in that group and they stuck to their tasks, getting the job done knowing there was no respite coming from the bench to give them a break.
A great game of rugby played in the correct spirit and a great advert for the game generally, some really good performances and some great control and game management on display also from the 15 man Blues as they progressed in the competition with hopefully a full squad available at home in the next round against Howe of Fife.