He led his side to a 20-10 victory over Gala in the Waverley Cup at Netherdale on Boxing Day.

And, on Saturday, January 3, Melrose face a trip to Glasgow Hawks in the third round of the BT Cup before the race for the Premiership resumes the following weekend.

Sitting third in the table, Thomson revealed competition for places is driving the Greenyards side on.

However, with Gala still in contention in both competitions, despite a disastrous run of six league defeats in a row, he is refusing to rule out a repeat of the dramatic scenes which saw the championship decided on the final day of the season last year.

“It’s good to finally get my hands on the Waverley Cup,” Thomson said. “I was looking at the programme before the game and Gala have won it the last three years but Melrose have also won it three times before and we came up here with one job in mind and we got the trophy.

“Gala have been very unlucky in some of the fixtures we’ve watched and they came out fighting again. Gala v Melrose is one of the biggest games in Scotland so we knew it was going to be a big challenge.

“But we came with a good squad and a lot of young guys came off the bench towards the end and that’s the future of our squad.

“Tommy Galbraith played in the league last week but that was his first start and we’ve got guys like young Angus Runciman and Cammy Mackay, who are making great strides in the Seconds so they all deserve a shot.” Melrose only just defeated Hawks 14-13 in the Premiership earlier this month and Head Coach John Dalziel admitted his side will have to improve if they are to progress in the BT Cup.

Looking ahead to the fixture this week, Thomson told the Border Telegraph: “It’s going to be a really tough game after the game we played at the Greenyards, there’s no doubt it’s going to be a battle.” But he added: “We want to push on (in the Cup) and get into that top two to secure hopefully a home semi-final in the league as well.” Gala, meanwhile, are at home to Stirling County in the BT Cup this weekend in the first of a league and cup double header.

And with the visitors sitting just a place below them in the Premiership, just outside the four play-off spots and equal on points, the Maroons are keen to kick-start their season with a win.

However, injuries to props Paul Stewart and Ewan Johnstone in the Waverley Cup match has only added to the club’s injury woes.

Gala coach George Graham said: “We’ve got a huge list of injuries and we picked up another few (against Melrose) but we need to try to stem the flow of losses over the past few weeks.

“This is a cup match and Stirling will be looking to come here to try to turn us over, knowing that we’ve got them the week after that. If they manage to win down here and then we get them up there the momentum will be with them.” Elsewhere in the Cup on Saturday, Kelso are at home to Musselburgh and Hawick tackle Accies in Edinburgh.

In BT National League One, Peebles and Jed-Forest are at home to Aberdeen and Hillhead-Jordanhill, respectively.

And, in the BT Borders Shield, Earlston are at home to Hawick Quins and St Boswells host Berwick.