Gala 39

Dundee HSFP 12

David Morrison

at Netherdale

OVER the past couple of seasons Gala supporters have become accustomed to not getting their hopes up too quickly.

Several false dawns have left the Maroon army guarded in their optimism.

And on Saturday, against opponents that Opeta Palepoi's team were expected to brush aside, it looked as though the great start to the season could come undone when the usually influential Josh Irvine was shown his marching orders after just 11 minutes.

But the growing sense of belief which was witnessed in the opening couple of fixtures is putting Gala in a place where they can overcome adversity.

When Dundee's Kevin Franco was yellow carded just three minutes, later the home team took full advantage.

Ross Cooke finished off an assured move to open the scoring, with Dean Keddie adding the conversion.

No sooner had Dundee returned to full strength - and the extra man - did Angus Thomson work his way over for a converted try.

Despite the numerical disadvantage Gala began to turn the screw with some powerful drives in midfield.

And they were rewarded five minutes before the interval with Chris Weir barging over.

It had been a fairly even half with Gala minimising the danger of Dundee's extra player.

But after the interval Gala stepped up a gear to take command during a blistering opening 10 minutes.

Only an unkind bounce prevented a Rex Jeffrey through kick being turned into points.

But Keddie did add the tally with a penalty before Aidan Turner flew through a gap to score Gala's third try.

The Keddie conversion made it 22-7 by the 50th minute.

Dundee did put the home defence under pressure approaching the hour but the tackling was effective and any hopes of a revival were snuffed out.

Stevie Cairns made sure of a Gala victory and the bonus point in the 65th minute as he crashed over for the try.

Keddie extended the score to 29-7.

The fifth try arrived just five minutes later as Jeffrey kicked through and won the race to touch down.

Not to be outdone Chris Keen barged his way over in the 76th minute to take the home points up to 39.

Dundee were rewarded for their efforts in the closing stages with A Kieran D'eath try.

Gala: R Cook, J Turnbull, R Jeffrey, A Emond, A Turner, D Keddie, G Hamilton, M Christie, R Tod, C Keen, C Weir, C Pate, J Irvine, K Brown & S Cairns. Reps: K Scott, L Scott, J Watson, S Fairburn & D Nicholson.