24-10 win in potential title decider puts promotion to rugby’s Tennent’s Premiership within reach for Kelso

Bruce McNeil scoring a try for Kelso during their 24-10 home win against Ayr on Saturday (Photo: Charles Brooker)

The table-topping Borderers followed up their 22-21 victory in South Ayrshire in November with a 24-10 win at home to their second-placed visitors at the weekend to stretch the gap between them – only a single point at kick-off – to five points.

Both teams, having played 20 fixtures each, have two to go, so a bonus-point win would be enough to put Kelso out of reach of Ayr unless their Tennent’s National League Division 1 title rivals are able to score 70-odd points more than them over the course of those remaining 160 or so minutes of rugby.

Kelso are currently on 87 points and Ayr on 82.

Kevin Dryden on the ball for Kelso versus Ayr on Saturday (Pic: Charles Brooker)

The former’s run-in comprises trips to Glasgow High Kelvinside on Saturday, April 1, and Highland on Saturday, April 15, both 3pm kick-offs, with the latter’s consisting of a return to the Borders on April 1 to take on Gala and a trip to Edinburgh’s Stewart’s Melville on April 15, both at 3pm too.

Kelso have Dwain Patterson’s kicking to thank for their victory against Ayr as he totted up 14 points of their total with four penalties and a conversion, tries by captain Frankie Robson and player-coach Bruce McNeil accounting for the rest.

Scott Watson and Zachary Howard touched down unconverted tries for their visitors.

McNeil was delighted to see his side notch up their 18th win of the campaign, telling Borders Rugby TV afterwards: “I’m really happy. It wasn’t pretty for a lot of the game but we’ve talked about giving that jersey the respect it deserves and I think that’s probably what pulled us through in the end, working really hard for each other.

Keith Melbourne on the charge for Kelso against Ayr at the weekend (Pic: Charles Brooker)

“Things don’t always go to plan but we’ve got to make sure we stick together and play for the full 80 minutes and I thought we did that today.

“When you’re playing one of the best teams in the league, you’ve got to be on it for 80 minutes and you can’t get too far ahead of yourselves. They’re a great team and they’re well drilled and we were very fortunate to come away with a win.

“The job’s not done yet. We’ve got a couple of games to play, so we’ll not get carried away.”