Victory over Currie gives Boroughmuir hope of the play-offs

Boroughmuir's free-scoring skipper Johnny Matthews believes the Meggetland men can still force their way into Tennent's Premiership play-off contention if they repeat the effort they produced in beating Currie Chieftains on Saturday.

Mark Hare is stopped by Currie's Charlie Shiel. Picture: Greg Macvean

Muir finally shrugged off the habit of playing well in parts of games and scored 26 unanswered points in the second half to post a 41-17 win.

“We talked at half-time about raising our game and we really stepped up. It’s great to see what we can do when we concentrate for 80 minutes,” said Matthews, who is joint top Premiership try scorer.

And of the play-off bid, he added: “If we can put 80-minute performances like that in every week and we can build on this result, I don’t see why not. We have been close a few times to the top four teams from last season and lost some tight games we probably shouldn’t have. Hopefully this is a turning point.”

Chieftains reached the break 17-15 ahead after Marc Kelly, Thomas Gordon and Ben Robbins scored a try apiece and Gregor Hunter kicked a conversion, while the hosts had tries by Craig Gossman and Greg Cannie plus a conversion and penalty from Gavin Parker.

A Jordan Edmunds score handed Muir a lead they would not relinquish and Will Wardlaw kept the scoreboard ticking before Matthews crossed twice and Parker landed three more conversions.

Chieftains coach Ben Cairns acknowledged that his players had handed the initiative to a home side brimming with ambition.

“When you do that and give them a sniff, they are very good on the front foot. Once they were on the front foot they dominated possession and we couldn’t cope with it. We need to be better than that,” admitted Cairns.

Heriot’s moved above Chieftains into third spot after finishing strongly to take all five points from a 45-21 win over Glasgow Hawks.

Alex Ball took his tally to five tries in two weeks with a double and Ali Johnston also touched down twice, while there was one each for Ruaridh Leishman, Charlie Simpson and Callum Marshall, with Ross Jones booting five conversions.

Watsonians also maintained their upward trajectory with a hard fought 14-8 win at Stirling County thanks to a Ewan Fox try and three Lee Millar penalties.

Meanwhile, Edinburgh Accies were outgunned by the league leaders Ayr, with the Capital side’s points in a 29-3 defeat coming from Richard Mill.