JED-FOREST ended their Borders hoodoo with a double victory over Peebles at the weekend.

However, the National League One fixture at a rain-soaked Riverside Park on Saturday, which also counted as a Border League clash, was only decided with the final kick of the ball.

The home side led through a brace of tries from Gregor Young and a third from Greg Raeburn, one of which was converted by Gregor Mein, who also added a penalty.

Peebles, who responded with a try from Andrew Muir try, had to rely on the boot of Greg Raeburn to keep them in the game.

But, despite scoring four penalties, his fifth effort, to equalise the scores moments before the referee blew the full-time whistle, bounced back off the posts in a dramatic end to the game.

Mein said: “In the changing room, the boys said they’ve not beat another Borders club (in the league) for three-and-a-half years. It was a tough game, Peebles will take a few scalps, so it was a good win.

“We started pretty slowly against Kelso, a game we should have targeted to win; we were beat by a better team up at Howe of Fife last week but it’s good to get off the mark. Hopefully we can get a wee run going and some points on the board going into the second half of the season when it comes.”

The former Gala player revealed he was relishing his new role at the Riverside following his switch from Netherdale in the summer. And Saturday’s win moves them up three places from 11th to eighth in the table.

“They’re a great bunch of boys,” Mein said. “It doesn’t matter where you go, it’s rugby, the banter doesn’t change. 

“It’s certainly different, training’s different, you’ve not got (Gala coach) George Graham screaming at you every two minutes. 

“They have been very welcoming and I am enjoying it and looking forward to the rest of the season.”

Peebles had to play out the game a man short after Ross Brown was shown a yellow card for what appeared to be a late challenge. 

And, despite picking up a losing bonus point, they remain rooted to the foot of the National League One table after three defeats in their opening games.

But, with another bottom of the table encounter against Dundee on Saturday, the Gytes side have warned it won’t be for long.

Mitch McGahan said: “Greg (Raeburn) kept us in the match, but we didn’t get the rub of the green. We feel we had two tries chalked off that were legitimate tries but that’s what the officials are there for and they make those decisions.

“The coaches have said, and we know ourselves, we have progressed but we’ve probably let one slip here. This was a chance to get our season up and running. 

“It’s just that final push but I do think when it does click that teams are going to have to watch out.

“Even in the first game against Watsonians, we gave them a headstart, after that we were right in that game. 

“It’s little errors, team errors and individual errors, that are letting that pressure valve off when we are building good pressure in the right area.

“But all we can do is keep our heads down. The coach has come in and introduced a lot of new things to the way Peebles are used to playing and it’s slowly building and we’re getting there.”