Heriot's 29

SCOTTISH CUP ROUND 6

STUART CAMERON reports from Netherdale

The only Premier Three club to make it into the sixth round of the Scottish Cup did their division and the Borders proud by taking Premier One side Heriot's all the way.

It may have been four tries to one in Heriot's favour, but the territory and possession was won by the Maroons. It was testament to the quality of the Edinburgh team's players that they were able to make every chance they had work for them.

Kicking off into the wind, Gala had an opportunity to take the lead on 10 seconds when a penalty was awarded to them.

On this occasion, Andy McLean wasn't on target, but he only had a couple of minutes to wait before he had another opportunity in a more kickable position and he duly converted.

Heriot's should have equalised 10 minutes later when the Maroons conceded a penalty in front of their posts, but Graham Wilson somehow managed to push it wide.

McLean scored another couple of penalties to stretch the home lead to nine before Scottish Sevens specialist Chris Fusaro found himself with space out on the right to stroll in to score.

Wilson again had no joy with the kick, but three minutes before the break, Andrew Douglas burst through, following an impressive move by the Heriot's backs to score in the corner. This time, Wilson succeeded with the difficult touchline conversion.

The teams turned round with the wind helping them in the second half and it didn't take long for McLean to equalise with his fourth penalty, and then go on to kick two more.

With 13 minutes left, the quarter-finals of the cup were staring them in the face, but a superb break from Heriot's Colin Goudie brought his team to within a point. Wilson stroked the conversion over to edge the visitors into the lead and then did more damage by bagging another penalty.

The Gala heads dropped and Cameron Goodall wrapped the game up for the visitors with a superb try, converted by Wilson.

Gala deserved their stoppage-time try from Tim Archibald to make the score more respectable, but it wasn't enough and Gala go out of the cup.

They can now concentrate on their main task of getting promoted out of Premier Three. Their trip to Irvine should be a formality, although Graeme Bryce, Fraser Thomson and Chris Dalgleish may struggle to recover from injuries sustained during this cup tie.

Gala coach Richie Gray said that he had no regrets about fielding a full strength side on Saturday, and this was a popular decision for the spectators, who saw a real giant-killing attempt.

There was always going to be a risk of injury but you can't deny guys like Stevie Craig and Andy McLean the chance to compete at a higher level, and this was the right decision.