Tennent’s Premiership whipping boys Musselburgh turn tables by dishing out beating at Selkirk

Head coach Derek O’Riordan’s East Lothian outfit bounced back from being 15-0 down early on at Philiphaugh to take a 21-15 half-time lead against their hosts and ended up recording only their second victory of the current campaign.

That win, by a scoreline of 32-20, defied a gap of six league places and 29 points at kick-off and also secured payback for Musselburgh for their 29-8 home defeat by the Souters in mid-September.

That result leaves both sides as they were after 13 games, Selkirk fourth, on 39 points, and Musselburgh still bottom, but now with 15 points, only six adrift of second-bottom Heriot’s Blues.

Next up for the Borderers as they look to get back to winning ways is a trip to the capital this coming weekend to try their luck against third-placed Edinburgh Academical.

It’s also a chance for head coach Scott Wight’s side to make amends for having lost the reverse fixture 24-20 in September.

Kick-off at Raeburn Place on Saturday is at 2pm.

Bruce Riddell scored two of Selkirk’s tries against Musselburgh, with Callum Anderson getting the other and Aaron McColm adding a penalty and a conversion.

Musselburgh’s tries were touched down by Craig Owenson, James Ferguson, Neil McNairn and Finn Duraj, with Danny Owenson converting three of them and also kicking two penalties.

Wight was unhappy with his side’s showing at the weekend, telling Borders Rugby TV afterwards: “It proved to be a really disappointing day at Philiphaugh against Musselburgh.

“With several normal faces missing, we saw it as a great opportunity for the wider squad.

“We had several opportunities but we just weren’t clinical enough.

“Every time Musselburgh were in there, they came away with points, and on the flip of that, we probably had five or six clean scoring opportunities that we didn’t convert, which is really, really frustrating.”