Jed-Forest hoping for revenge against Currie Chieftains this weekend for opening-day defeat

The Jedburgh side had been behind for much of the match but overtook their South Ayrshire opposition with a Finlay Scott penalty right at the death, set up by a kick up the pitch by captain Clark Skeldon, to earn their third victory of the season.

That win sees them leapfrog their Troon visitors in the table into sixth place, on 18 points from eight games.

Scott’s winning penalty was one of two he kicked on Saturday, along with three conversions. Jed’s tries were scored by Kyle Grieve, Robbie Shirra-Gibb, Mason Cullen and Aidan Bambrick.

Marr’s tries were scored by Colin Sturgeon, Ross Brocket and Andrew Acton, assisted by a penalty try, with Sturgeon adding three conversions and a penalty.

Besides conceding that penalty try, the hosts had Andrew Sweenie yellow-carded on 22 minutes, but that marked an improvement in discipline on their display during their 49-36 defeat at Glasgow Hutchesons’ Aloysians the Saturday before, something welcomed by head coach Andrew Brown.

“Their discipline was a lot better at the weekend than the previous weekend, absolutely,” he said.

Brown was even more impressed by the resilience shown by his side to bounce back from being 31-22 down at one point in the second half.

“Obviously the result went the right way for us but it was a hard game and we only won it right at the death,” he said.

“The team themselves were outstanding.

“The way they conducted themselves, their team spirit and the graft that they put into defending for pretty much 65 minutes of the game were outstanding.

“Towards the final whistle, we knew we were still in touch – all the games we’ve played apart from against Currie, we’ve been in touch – and we can always finish strongly, so as long as we’re within range in the final quarter, we’ve always got a chance to claw it back.”

Jed host third-placed Currie Chieftains this coming Saturday, with kick-off at 3pm, giving them a chance to make amends for their 52-12 opening-day defeat away to the Edinburgh side back in August.

“We’re in a good place and we’re getting better all the time and Currie are maybe not quite as strong as they were at the start of the season,” said Brown.

“We have the advantage of playing at home at Riverside Park as well, so we’re looking forward to having a go at this well-drilled, well-organised Currie team.”

Jed remain a work in progress, though, with their best hopefully yet to come, according to Brown.

“There are still things we’ve got to work on,” he said.

“We’re still a team in transition.

“We don’t have a massive squad and getting the same team on the park each week is quite challenging, so we don’t have that continuity in selection. It’ll be great when we do have continuity in selection and we can put the same team out for maybe two or three weeks in a row, and then we’ll see how we’re pushing on and how we’re doing.”