Gala 24

Melrose 7

Bob Sneddon

at Netherdale

GALA'S surge up the table continued on Saturday with a derby win over neighbours Melrose.

The Maroons blasted out the blocks and were on the front foot straight from kick off.

Ruairi Howarth side-stepped his way through the Melrose defence before being grounded illegally near the line.

A quick penalty from Euan Dods led to the captain barging his way over for the opening try.

Dean Keddie's straightforward conversion made it 7-0 with less than five minutes on the clock.

But Melrose responded well and showed why they were sitting second-top going into this match.

A penalty kicked into the 22 saw the ball being flicked out to winger James Brown to go in at the corner.

Donald Crawford levelled the scores with the conversion.

A Keddie penalty got Gala's noses back in front.

And following a lengthy delay for treatment to two Melrose players, who had collided heads, Gala went further ahead.

The home team were awarded the put in at the scrum as they were in possession and attacking when the incident took place.

Dods picked up at the back of the scrum and, using his power, forced himself over the line for his and Gala’s second try.

Keddie successfully converted from the touchline to increase the Gala lead to 17-7.

The second half was very much a Borders derby type of rugby match with some good handling and running, as well as excellent defensive tackling on both sides.

There were also a few flare ups.

With time ticking away, though, Gala made sure of the victory.

A brilliant cross field kick by Keddie in the 74th minute was beautifully taken by Fergus Johnston in full flight.

The winger avoided a tackle before flicking the ball to Andrew Mitchell who dived over the line to score the home team's third try.

Keddie continued his 100-percent kicking game by converting.

Gala twice thought they had secured the bonus point in the closing stages.

On the first occasion Melrose took a quick throw in at their line-out before the line was formed.

Nobody other than the player throwing in had touched the ball and it was intercepted by Dods who sprinted 25 metres to touch down.

But the referee decided the line out should be taken again and score was disallowed.

In the closing minutes after Gala again crossed the line to touch down but were called back to the half way line for a knock on.

A greatly disputed decision by the Gala supporters but no blame to the referee, as it was another decision which may have been helped by assistant referees on the line instead of club touch judges with no decision making ability.

But the disappointment was short-lived as the final whistle led to celebrations from the Gala supporters - boosted by the local farmers who had enjoyed a pre-match lunch.

There were, though, mixed feelings in the stand for the Weir family with Doddie having strong Melrose loyalties and dad Jock with son Chris showing their Gala colours.