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The Redditch Arrows made the long trip to Scotland on Sunday and came away with a creditable 20-20 Tie against fierce rivals West Coast Trojans. The result keeps the Arrows hopes of play off football alive as they approach mid point in the season.

It was the Scottish team that made the best possible start when on their opening possession Running Back Jon Sutherland, recently resigned from Valencia in Spain, went in from 47 yards on a sweep. The Arrows failed to answer back on their opening possession and things went even worse for the visitors when the Trojans increased their lead to 12-0 shortly afterwards when Sutherland got his second score on a 16 yard reverse.

After these initial setbacks the Arrows slowly began to find their feet. Eventually they managed to put together a drive leaving them on the Trojans 1 yard line. A QB sneak from Richard Wilde plus a successful PAT put the Arrows back in it at 12-7.

West Coast however quickly regained the initiative when American Dave Pasnick was found in the endzone for a 36 yard reception. This time the Trojans were successful on the 2 point PAT and extended the lead to 20-7.

The Arrows then came up with the play of the game, Arrows QB Richard Wilde connected up with Kieron Mcloed who weaved his way down field for a 61 yard touchdown reception. Going in at half time the Arrows found themselves still behind at 20-13 but in far better position than they were early on in the game.

The Arrows came out in the second half in far more determined mood. The Arrows defense had now got the measure of the Trojans speedy offensive unit and were containing them for most of the action and forcing them to regularly have to punt the ball away on fourth down. Mid way through the third quarter the Arrows got back on level terms when Kieran Mcloed scored his second of the day on a 13 yard reception.

With both teams desperate for the win it looked more likely that the Arrows would snatch the victory. Starting on its own 20 yard line the Arrows started a time consuming drive leaving with 4^th and 1 on the Trojans 16 yard line. The Arrows elected to go for the field goal only to see their ambitions wrecked when the Trojans defense held firm and blocked the attempt. The Trojans with only 4 minutes on the clock made their own attempt to snatch the game but a fumble recovery by Noel Fischer ended this leaving the Arrows with 12 seconds on the clock to hit pay-dirt from the centre of the field. Unfortunately it was a case of too much and too little time and the game ended up 20-20.

This result continues the pattern of previous Arrows West Coast games. In the last 3 years they have played each other 4 times and there is only a 2 point spread separating the teams over those games.

On Offense the plaudits go to Dave Mills 114 yards on 27 carries and Kieran Mcloed. 2 receptions for 97 yards and 2 Touchdowns. On defense Jim Mortimer had 9 tackles, Ian Looms 6 and James Chattoe 5. Andy Mortimer and James Hamilton also recorded interceptions.