STONEYWOOD-DYCE stalwart Shaun Coetzer reckons the surprise news of the MBE bestowed upon his brother and Scotland skipper Kyle inspired the side to victory over Arbroath.
In the only league match to survive the elements, the hosts – with whom Kyle launched his remarkable career – halted their run of defeats in emphatic style at Peoples Park.
And Shaun stated: “There was a real buzz around the place when we all assembled for the match.
“The players and supporters had a feeling of great pride – even those who didn’t know Kyle when he played here all these years ago.
“Everyone knows what a huge impact he has had on the club and on the sport in this country.”
An under-strength Arbroath struggled in the awkward conditions against the buoyed up SD to reach 143, which proved to be well within the scope of the home brigade.
Shaun added: “We bowled well to restrict them to that total, though it could have been 40 fewer if we hadn’t had a wobbly spell in the field.
“Our reply got off to a decent start. We approached the chase positively and made sure we capitalised on the bad balls.
“Part of the exercise was to try to dominate as a way of building confidence.”
Liam Lindsay led the charge with an excellent unbeaten 80. Bryce Carnegie had earlier been Arbroath’s most stubborn batsman with 43.
Arbroath spokesman Jeff Petrie had no complaints about the outcome.
He declared: “It was disappointing, however we were beaten by the better side on the day. Lindsay batted really well.
“Our performance wasn’t helped by the conditions, which of course were the same for both teams.
“The bottom line was that we did not put enough runs on the board.
“The toss probably was important as the track did seem get a bit easier for the second innings as it started to dry out a bit.
“In addition, we weren’t helped by the absence of captain Marc Petrie, along with Matty Parker and Calvin Burnett.”
While the current Scotland captain was lauded, a former national skipper was making what is expected to be a one-off comeback.
Ryan Watson answered Forfarshire’s SOS when seven regulars were unavailable for the visit of Aberdeenshire to Forthill.
Watson hit a defiant half-century as the Broughty Ferry boys reached 123 for six – only for the rain to put an end to the fun.
