Ayr 19

Melrose 26

David Morrison

at Millbrae

THE lights may have gone out a little early but the unexpected black-out shouldn't take anything away from a fine Melrose performance on the Ayrshire coast.

With 10 minutes still remaining and the game finely balanced, the floodlight failure at Millbrae led to full-time being blown early.

In a thrilling contest Melrose started the better with Ben Mclean finished off a driving maul in the fourth minute.

But the home team responded just eight minutes later with Ben Cree somehow forcing his way over the line with two defenders hanging from him.

An Andy Morrison conversion gave Ayr the lead.

But up stepped young full-back Keiran Clark to slice through the home defence for the first of his three tries.

David Colvine added the conversion for a 12-7 lead.

But Cree was on hand a few minutes later to power over for his second try of the game.

Morrison’s second conversion pulled the hosts back in front.

Just after the half hour Clark collected a pass out wide and raced in for his second try to restore the Melrose lead.

Colvine's touchline conversion made the score 19-14.

But there was still time before the interval for Cammy Black to break away for another Ayr try.

The 19-19 half-time scoreline seemed fair for a thoroughly entertaining 40 minutes of rugby.

The second half didn't quite produce the same excitement but there was plenty of drama.

Just three minutes after the restart Clark against broke through for his third try of the afternoon.

Colvine's conversion gave the visitors a 26-19 lead.

And that is how it remained until the 69th minute when the lights went out - and referee Lee Fish blew time with darkness falling on Millbrae.