Peter Wright admits Boroughmuir are out for revenge against Watsonians

“Watsonians beat us at home in the first game of the season so we were disappointed with that. We’ve got a score to settle,” said Muir coach Peter Wright, who welcomes back Craig Gossman, Rory Arthur and Tom Wilson. “It’s a local derby, always fun and should get the best out of both sets of players.”

However, while making amends for the 23-14 loss in September will be an incentive, the main driver for the visitors will be the chance to move closer to the play-off spots, a target that has become a realistic objective following three successive bonus point wins.

Even in defeat at Melrose last week, Sonians showed enough to suggest that this is a side worthy of its top four ambitions. Coach Steve Lawrie, who has been forced to draw on the depth of his squad with several regulars unavailable, knows that a win could be enough to move into the leading quartet.

“We were pleased with aspects of our performance last week at the Greenyards but it was ultimately a case of close but no cigar,” said Lawrie. “This week we have the massive challenge of Boroughmuir who have been improving all the time.”

Across the Capital, Edinburgh Accies have international prop Murray McCallum making his debut for the club in an all change front row that also features Rory Simpson and Duncan Morrison for the visit of Melrose (2pm).

Meanwhile, Currie Chieftains need to react positively to last weekend’s painful loss at Hawick when Stirling County visit Malleny  Park (2.30pm). Coach Ben Cairns left his men in no doubt about their shortcomings, saying: “Last week’s performance was simply not good enough.”

Cairns has four professionals released this week, with Greg Peterson, Tevita Tameilau and Charlie Shiel all starting, while Kiran MacDonald is on the bench.

Elsewhere, third-placed Heriot’s travel to face leaders Ayr.