HELENSBURGH Rugby Club coach Iain Ross insists he seen plenty of positives in Saturday’s tie at Allan Glens — despite the Grizzlies losing out by two points.

It was Burgh’s first league defeat of the season after opening their West District Division One campaign with wins over Garnock and Cumbernauld.

Ross was forced to make a raft of changes with several players picking up injuries, however he was pleased with the performance of the players drafted in at an historically difficult venue for Burgh.

He said: “It was a good performance in the circumstances. We had to make quite a lot of changes but the boys who came in did very well.

“We started both halves well and then let Allan Glens into the game a bit. But we finished strongly and were probably a bit unlucky not to get the draw at the end.

“Phil Rogers, Michael Kinsman and our stand off Rhodri Davies were all out and we had to field an entirely different front row from last week’s game.

“In those circumstances and given that Allan Glens away is a fixture we haven’t fared particularly well at in recent seasons, there was plenty of positives to take.” After two wins out of three in the league and changes at the club both on and off the pitch, hopes are high for an improved season at Ardencaple this year after a disappointing campaign last year.

Since taking over from previous coach John Cashmore in the summer, Ross has been pleased with the progress of the team.

However he knows that will be tested to the maximum on Saturday when the Grizzlies welcome much fancied Glasgow Accies to Ardencaple.

He said: “Glasgow Accies have started really well, they beat Oban last week and they will be pushing to get promotion if not win the division. We beat them at Ardencaple last year, that day our forwards shut the game down really well.

“With the injuries we have we won’t have as strong a team as we would hope but being at home we are confident of doing well.

“It has been a good start, the first two wins have given us a good platform and hopefully we can build on that in the upcoming matches.”