GALA winger Graham Speirs believes his side can take heart from their draw away to reigning champions Heriot's at the weekend. 

A run of five straight defeats had left the Maroons at the wrong end of the table, but a blitzkrieg start at Goldenacre blew away much of the anxiety of recent weeks. 

It was Speirs that put Gala in the ascendency with an early try. Speaking to the Border Telegraph, he said: “We had a good session on Tuesday night prior to the game, a pretty physical session. And we needed that.  So that built a bit of confidence. We didn't fare too badly up at Heriot's last year, so we took that into the game too.

“There is a good belief amongst the squad, we knew there were things that haven't maybe gone to plan, a few missed tackles and individual errors have cost us .  We have had some quite honest video sessions recently and that, combined with the physical week leading up to the Heriot's game, set us up well for the weekend.”

Heriot's showed their class by forcing their way back into the contest, but Gala could have still edged it at the death. 

“We had a good start, a dream start really. I think it maybe took them by surprise a little. But we went there with a positive attitude and boys were making breaks and running good support lines.  They were always going to come back at us at some stage. And if you had offered us a draw up at Heriot beforehand, we would have taken it.  But with the start we had and the chances we created late on, we were disappointed not to win.” 

Speirs now says it is imperative that Gala build on that hard work by following up with a good performance at home to Currie this weekend.  

“We went up to Malleny Park last year and struggled against them.  They have a physical pack and they have got quite a few young backs who are pretty quick, so we'll need to make sure that defensively, we are sound again this week, and obviously match their physical presence up front.

"They came away with a good win at the weekend against Melrose, so we certainly won't be underestimating them. But if we start like we did against Heriot's, we'll cause most sides in this league problems.”

Kick off at Netherdale is 2pm.  In other BT Premiership games, Melrose will entertain Selkirk in an all-Borders class at the Greenyards, whilst Hawick face a tough trip to top of the table Ayr.