A lineout won by Donald Seed produced good ball for Tony Wichary to come off his wing to score a try, after only three minutes, close to the posts. Andrew Skeen converted and increased the lead with a penalty after the visitors were caught offside.

Kelso’s line out again functioned well and, from a short throw, the ball was passed along the line for Kieran Wilkinson to take his opposite winger on and he raced over for a try in the corner. Skeen converted well from the touchline.

Shortly after, some weak tackling by Kelso allowed the PL prop, Paul Dixon, to go over for an unconverted try to take the score to 17-5. That was, in fact, the score at half time.

Whatever was said at the half time team talk seemed to work well for Preston Lodge as they came out of the blocks after the break with a storming 20 minutes with, initially, tries by Nathan Ross, which was converted from far out by Graeme Patterson, and hooker Raymond Mackie, after Blair Cowan, won clean line out ball and the Preston Lodge pack piled in for an effective drive.

Two penalties by Patterson for an offside followed by a scrum offence took the visitors into a 23-17 lead with 20 minutes to go.

Kelso’s woes increased as Dom Buckley, resuming after injury and his recent wedding, was yellow carded. Skeen narrowed the gap with a penalty on 63 minutes following an offside after a good forward drive and, with time running out, replacement Mark Wilson won the race to the line after Murray Hastie charged down a Preston Lodge clearing kick. Andrew Skeen converted to take Kelso home by 27-23.

A hard fought win was what Kelso took from the day and a place in the last 16 of the BT Scottish Cup which will be played on January 3. The last time Kelso beat Preston Lodge in the Cup, they went all the way to the final!

Kelso: Murray Hastie, Kieran Wilkinson, Frankie Robson, Lewis Wichary, Tony Wichary , Andrew Skeen, Andy Tait ,Chris Keen , Ross Henderson, Ross Glendinning, Donald Seed, Callum Rowlandson, Max Gordon, Liam Tait and Ali Grieve. Replacements: Gordon Harkins, Paul Grahamslaw, Ally Johnstone, Mark Wilson and Dom Buckley.