Peebles 33

Whitecraigs 10

Allan Beveridge

at The Gytes

IT was a dull afternoon on Saturday with the floodlights on from the start.

But the victory eventually brightened up the afternoon.

Peebles started well and only an accidental offside prevented Ritchie Reed from opening the scoring.

But Whitecraigs also went close in the opening stages as the pass to winger narrowly failed to find his hands.

It was the trusty boot of Greg Raeburn, with two well taken penalties, that edged Peebles in front.

But again the Glasgow side, defying their lowly league position, came storming back to score the first try of the afternoon.

Abekhe on this occasion collected a good pass to score out wide.

The conversion attempt hit the crossbar, leaving the score at 6-5.

Another Raeburn penalty was all Peebles had to show for their first half endeavours - and the 9-5 lead at the interval was far from convincing.

Thankfully for the home support, the second half was vastly better.

Patrick Harrison got the ball rolling with an early try after Callum Gray had been stopped just short of the line.

Raeburn made it 16-5 with the conversion.

Whitecraigs were defending well and their efforts were rewarded when Percival and Pollock combined at a lineout to cross for a try.

At 16-10 it was game back on, but Peebles were to make sure of victory with an encouraging final quarter of the match.

Only the whistle from the referee prevented a certain home try, as he pulled play back because of an injured Whitecraigs player.

But Raeburn added a 40 metre penalty to stretch the advantage.

And both Neil Hogarth and Gray scored tries, with Raeburn converting both.

Peebles should have had one further try in the closing stages as Harrison had Callum Anderson in support when he opted to chip ahead and lost possession.

But this was still a good finish to the match from a Peebles perspective to remain in the hunt at the league's half way stage.

Tomorrow Gordonians make the long trip from Aberdeen to The Gytes for a 3pm kick off.

The game in Aberdeen at the beginning of the season went the way of Peebles but they will have to improve on last week's first half performance to win again.

Peebles: James Mathews, Scott Stoddart, Murray Brown, Donald Anderson, James Dow, Greg Raeburn, David Collins, Neil Hogarth, Ryan Stewart, Willie Aitken, Ritchie Reed, Murdock Anderson, Patrick Anderson, Callum Gray & Rohan Maciver. Reps. Jamie Menzies, John Gray, Linton Brink , Callum Anderson.