FORMER Selkirk player Nyle Godsmark helped championship chasing Melrose inflict a double blow on his old club at the weekend – and then insisted there wasn’t much between the two teams.

The Scotland Sevens star revealed Saturday’s Premiership match, which doubled as a Border League fixture, was the first time he had faced his hometown club in the 15-a-side game, having only moved to the Greenyards in the summer.

His new side came out on top with tries from Sam Pecqueur, Lewis Carmichael and Ally Grieve and left bottom-of-the-table Selkirk, whose only try came from Darren Clapperton, still looking for their first win at the halfway stage of the season.

Speaking to the Border Telegraph pitchside at the full-time whistle, Godsmark said: “It was a good win and we’re improving with every game. There’s not really much difference between top and bottom of the league.

“We were beaten last week (against Currie) so we can’t really afford to make any mistakes. To come back with a win has pushed everything forward and keeps us chasing (leaders) Ayr.”

But he added: “As long as we stay in that top four come the end of the season we’ll be in the play-offs which is what we want.”

Melrose kicked off the game and Joe Helps put the home side ahead by converting a penalty with only five minutes played.

Selkirk took the lead six minutes later when Darren Clapperton dived over under the posts after Dashton Wellman showed good hands. Rory Banks added the conversion.

The visitors didn’t have the lead for long, though. The home side were quick to respond when Sam Pecqueur touched down on the overlap for his side’s first try. Helps added a tricky conversion.

Melrose extended their lead with another penalty from Helps midway through the first half which was cancelled out when Banks slotted a kick over five minutes later.

And, with half an hour played, Banks had the chance to equalise the scores with a penalty for Selkirk just outside the Melrose 22 but it drifted wide, keeping the score at the interval 13-10 to Melrose.

Helps and Banks exchanged penalties at the start of the second half before Melrose scored a second try after a great passage of play from a quick throw-in on the halfway line. Lewis Carmichael dived over in the corner.

With the try going unconverted, Selkirk were still in the game with 10 minutes remaining when a Dashton Wellman penalty meant just a try separated the two sides.

But Melrose secured the victory and denied the visitors a losing bonus point with a third try, attributed to Ally Grieve, in the 75th minute, again unconverted, to make the final score 26-16.

Selkirk coach Peter Wright said: “I take my hat off to our guys for sticking in. We know we’re not as physically big as the teams we’re playing against and the other teams use their size against us. We’ve just got to try to play and move the ball around and I thought we played a lot of good rugby and defended fantastically and then let ourselves down.

“For probably 80 per cent of the game we were pretty decent but that 20 per cent of the game is what killed us.”

Wright admitted getting that first win under their belts becomes harder the longer they wait, but he insisted there was still time for Selkirk to turn their season around.

“This is halfway now,” he said. “So there’s 45 points left (to play for). We’re just looking for that first win and then we’ll see what happens.

“We’re under no illusion that it’s going to be easy but the guys are still enjoying themselves and playing good rugby and one or two teams will suffer at some point. We’ve got Gala next week, another local derby. They got well beaten today I believe (against Currie). We now know what everyone is like. We shouldn’t fear anyone.”

Melrose: Nyle Godsmark, Joe Helps, George Taylor, Richard Taylor, Sam Pecqueur, Tom Galbraith, Murdo McAndrew; Jamie Bhatti, Richard Ferguson, Nick Beavon, James Head, Lewis Carmichael, Neil Irvine-Hess, Ally Miller, Graeme Dodds. Replacements: Ruairi McLeod, Dan Elkington, Ally Grieve, Andrew Nagle, Bruce Colvine.

Selkirk: Josh Welsh, Rory Banks, Craig MacDougall, Ross Nixon, Darren Clapperton, Dashton Wellman Mickey Davies; Grant Sheil, James Bett, Damian Bryne, Peter Forrest, John Everitt, Ewan MacDougall, Max Gordon, Callum Marshall. Replacements: Catta Gruer, Callum McEwan, Kieran Cooney, Fraser Anderson, Fabian Tetart.