Cartha Queen's Park 24

Selkirk 21

SELKIRK slipped up on Saturday despite a spirited second-half fightback at Cartha Queen's Park.

Graham Marshall's side arrived at Dumbreck with high expectations of earning the points to cement their third-place in the table.

But during a whirlwind opening 40 minutes the Souters were blown away by Cartha's power and pace - as well as a strong gale blowing into their faces.

Wayne Burrows had already kicked a penalty before Andrew Scott raced over for the opening try.

Burrows' conversion gave the hosts a deserved 10-0 lead.

Another Burrows kick, with the wind at his back, stretched the advantage to 13 points.

And worse was to come for Selkirk as Matt Robertson was shown yellow.

It didn't take long for Michael Robertson to score Cartha's second try - converted again by Burrows.

Trailing by 20 points at the break Selkirk needed a swift turnaround in fortunes.

And it came.

Just three minutes after the restart full-back Stevie Hamilton raced through the gap to touch down.

Aaron McColm closed the gap to 13 points with the conversion.

Before the hour Luke Pettie crashed over again for the Souters with McColm stroking over the conversion to make it 20-14.

But the fightback was brought to an abrupt halt as Scott raced in for his second score of the afternoon.

It all became a bit gung-ho in the closing stages with Selkirk throwing the ball around.

And they were rewarded with Josh Welsh scoring a third try.

McColm's conversion brought the scores to 25-21.

Despite a huge effort by the Selkirk players they were unable to breach the Queen's Park defence again.