Melrose 10

BORDER LEAGUE POOL A

FIONA SCOTT reports from Riverside Park

JED-FOREST held off a second-half onslaught on Tuesday night to book their place in the BSPC Border League final against Selkirk.

A bumper crowd turned out at Riverside and with near-perfect conditions, the excitement around the ground was palpable from start to finish.

Melrose suffered an early blow with the loss of skipper Jamie Murray and prop Nick Beavon to injury, and Jed dominated the opening 10 minutes. On the 11th the hosts found their way through when Jamie McCraw sent Robert Ferguson over for Seb Trotter to convert.

Scottish Cup man-of-the-match Scott Wight appeared to have left his kicking boots at Murrayfield, allowing Jed to continue to attack and put some pressure on the visiting champions.

Gary Hill was next to get his name on the scoresheet when he broke through the Melrose defence to touch down near the posts and Trotter's conversion split the kindling to put his side 14 points ahead.

Five minutes later, however, Melrose went on their first attack into Jed territory and scored, Jordan Macey doing the honours following an all-out charge by his team-mates that took them the length of the pitch.

Wight's luck continued to fail him as he had the unfamiliar experience of having his conversion attempt charged down, before kicking a penalty to touch into the dead ball area.

Seb Trotter had no such problem at the other end and the crowd erupted as his long-range penalty kick in the 35th minute went sailing through the sticks.

Another effort from just inside the halfway line minutes later dropped just short, but Jed continued their dominance and went into the break 17-5 ahead.

Jed appeared to thrive on the misfortunes of their visitors, showing a hungry aggression that would not be out of place in a Premier One match.

Time and again they attacked the Melrose defensive line and were rewarded 11 minutes into the half with a penalty. Donald Grieve's attempt sailed wide, however, and Melrose were saved further insult.

With 20 minutes remaining, Melrose hooker Graham Innes was stretchered off with a knee injury and it was now all or nothing for the Greenyards outfit.

Wight began the fightback with a fine solo try, but missed the conversion, leaving his team needing a converted try just to draw even.

A more exiting end to a game you couldn't have hoped for, as now, both teams were gunning for glory.