Gala at bottom of rugby’s Arnold Clark National League Division 1 after losing 69-5 at Stirling County

The Maroons remain level on 12 points from 11 fixtures with second-from-bottom Gordonians but the Aberdeen outfit move up a place off the foot of the table as their points-conceded difference is now nine better than the Borderers’ after losing 43-25 at home to Marr at the weekend.

Jed-Forest also lost out on Saturday, by 41-17 hosting Biggar, and they drop one place in the table to eighth, now on 18 points from 11 matches.

Both Borders sides were on the wrong end of winning doubles, having lost September’s reverse fixtures in Galashiels by 92-7 and in South Lanarkshire by 45-25 respectively.

Stirling’s try-scorers at their Bridgehaugh Park home ground – leaving them level at the top of the table on 52 points from 11 games with second-placed Edinburgh Academical – were Calum Ferrie, Adam Woods and Euan Cunningham all at the double, Daniel Casserly, Craig Jardine, Mikey Heron, Jared Bowe and Glenn Bryce, with fly-half Cunningham adding seven conversions.

Gala No 8 Robbie Irvine was disappointed to see his side beaten for the ninth time this term, telling Borders Rugby TV: “It was a valiant effort but that effort only got us so far.

“Credit to Stirling, they’re a quality outfit with some quality players.

“In open play, they were just far quicker around the corner and beat us there.”

“The boys gave a good account of themselves and I don’t the scoreline totally reflects the effort that we put in.

“It was a really tough day at the office.

“We want to turn a page after this game and look forward to the rest of the season. We’ve got some really tough games ahead of us but we’re looking forward to cracking on with therest of the season and getting some victories under our belts.”

Jed’s tries were scored by replacement Paulo Ferreira, outside-centre Gregor Young and hooker James Pese, with openside flanker Finn Scott kicking one conversion.

Harry Lang, Ruari Watson twice, Gary Adams also at the double, Luhann Kotze scored Biggar’s tries, with Andrew Jardine adding four conversions and a penalty.

Jed No 8 and captain Garry Young is also hoping for a return to winning ways, saying: “We started pretty strong, I thought, but credit to Biggar, they kept coming at us.

“The team that wanted it more got it and I can only credit Biggar for that.

“Everything that we tried to put right just seemed to go wrong and that put us on the back foot, with Biggar capitalising on every mistake we made.

“After you’ve started winning games, if you get knocked off that run, it is a shot in the guts – there’s no mistaking that and the boys will be hurting – but it’s about how we bounce back from that.

“You’re only ever as good as your last result, so we’ll take this on the chin.”

This coming Saturday sees head coach Ewen Robbie’s Maroons at home to fifth-placed Musselburgh and opposite number Michael Harshaw’s Jed hitting the road to Edinburgh to take on sixth-placed Boroughmuir, both 3pm kick-offs.

The reverse fixtures for those two games, also in September, yielded a 59-34 defeat for Gala in East Lothian and a 30-28 victory for the hosts at Jedburgh’s Riverside Park.