Scotland v England 1970

Hampden was the venue for the Scotland v England test match on 24th May. This time the ‘Auld Enemy’ travelled in greater strength than the previous year, although John Watchman and Tony Johnson withdrew late. They were replaced by John Whiting and Josh Cleave. Lauchlan McDougall, a Shields rider, piped out the teams, who were then presented to Les Whaley, the Guest of Honour.

After a closely fought meeting, England gradually edged ahead and a 5-1 in the penultimate heat clinched the match. The final score was 57 –51. England had avenged the previous year’s defeat. Tam Daly was uncharacteristically off-form that afternoon and failed to score. It was left Stuart Potter, Jack Pinkerton and Doug Noble to spearhead the tartan attack. Top for England were Derek Garnett, Kevin Greenhalgh and John Watling, all of whom scored double figures. The full scorers were :-

Ht 1: Low (S), Greenhalgh (E), Parsons (E),Tait (S) 44.7 3-3 3-3

Ht 2: Garnett (E), Baxter (S) , Watling (E), Potter (S) fell 44.8 2-4 5-7

Ht 3: Pinkerton (S), Johnson (E), Ellis (E), Daly (S) 45.0 3-3 8-10

Ht 4: Greenhalgh (E), Baxter (S) , Potter (S), Parsons (E) 44.2 3-3 11-13

Ht 5: Pinkerton (S), Garnett (E), Watling (E), Daly (S) 45.0 3-3 14-16

Ht 6: Ellis (E), Low (S), Archibald (S), Whiting (E) 42.9 3-3 17-19

Ht 7: Noble (S), Greenhalgh (E), Baxter (S), Gleave (E) 45.3 4-2 21-21

Ht 8: Wilson (E), Tait (S), Low (S), Ellis (E) 44.6 3-3 24-24

Ht 9: Noble (S), Garnett (E), Pinkerton (S), Whiting (E) ex 42.7 4-2 28-26

Ht 10: Watling (E),Tait (S), Gleave (E), Archibald (S) ex 45.0 2-4 30-30

Ht 11: Potter (S), Ellis (E), Wilson (E), Baxter (S) ex 45.0 3-3 33-33

Ht 12: Greenhalgh (E), Whiting (E), Pinkerton (S), Daly (S) fell 1-5 34-38

Ht 13: Watling (E), Low (S), Garnett (E), Tait (S) 46.2 2-4 36-42

Ht 14: Noble (S), Wilson (E), Gleave (E), Daly (S), 45.3 3-3 39-45

Ht 15: Potter (S), Parsons (E), Whiting (E), Archibald (S) 46.4 3-3 42-48

Ht 16: Garnett (E), Baxter (S) , Tait (S), Ellis (E) 44.8 3-3 45-51

Ht 17: Watling E), Parsons (E), Low (S), Noble (S) 46.8 1-5 46-56

Ht 18: Potter (S), Pinkerton (S), Greenhalgh (E), Wilson (E) 5-1 51-57

Scotland

1) John Tait 0 2 2 0 1 5+1

2) Tam Low 3 1 1 2 1 8+2

3) Stuart Baxter 2 2 1 x 2 7

4) Stuart Potter f 1 3 3 3 10+1

5) Jack Pinkerton 3 3 1 1 2 10+1

6) Tam Daly 0 0 f 0 0

7) Ian Archibald 2 x 0 2

8) Doug Noble 3 3 3 0 9

England

1) Kevin Greenhalgh 2 3 2 3 1 11

2) Dave Parsons 1 0 2 n 2 5+2

3) Derek Garnett 3 2 2 1 3 11

4) John Watling 1 1 3 3 3 11+1

5) Roger Ellis 1 3 0 2 0 6+1

6) Dave Wilson 2 3 1 2 x 8

7) John Whiting 0 2 1 3+1

8) George Cleave 0 1 1 2

Dave Parsons looked somewhat off colour early on and may have been regretting enjoying Jimmy Cobain’s hospitality the previous Doug Noble recorded a track record of 42.7 seconds in heat 9 when beating Derek Garnett.

Mike Blair had again persuaded The Rutherglen Reformer to cover the meeting and once more they gave it generous coverage. (Press Cutting)