Two games left for Berwick to beat drop to rugby’s Tennent’s National League Division 3

Berwick losing 32-15 at Glasgow Academicals on Saturday (Pic: Mike Hardie)

Their hopes of staying up took a knock with Saturday’s 32-15 defeat at table-topping Glasgow Academicals, especially as relegation rivals Preston Lodge came up trumps by 31-17 at Boroughmuir.

Those results leave both on 46 points from 20 fixtures, with seventh-placed Berwick above the five-team drop zone and their eighth-placed East Lothian opponents the wrong side of it only on points scored, the former being 19 better off.

That sets up the two teams’ meeting at Prestonpans’ Pennypit Park on Saturday, April 22, with kick-off at 3pm, as a potential relegation decider, though fourth-from-bottom Dumfries Saints are still in with a chance of overtaking one or other, or both, of them, being only two points worse off with up to ten still at stake.

Ahead of that, Berwick have got a visit to Scremerston by fifth-placed Lasswade lined up for Saturday, April 15, also at 3pm.

“It’s obviously tight in the battle to avoid relegation but we’re confident we can get results against Lasswade and Preston Lodge in our final two games,” Webster told Borders Rugby TV after his side’s 12th defeat of the season at the weekend.

James Thompson and Jordan Patterson scored Berwick’s tries at New Anniesland, with Thompson converting one and also kicking a penalty.

Accies’ tries were scored by Ross Cowan, James Smith, Jack McCready, Dec Papadakis and Matty Holland, with Colin Taylor converting two and McCready one.

Webster conceded that the better side had won on Saturday but says he was pleased by the display put in by his team-mates despite being reduced to 14 men late on by a controversial red card for Alex Orr, reckoning that it bodes well for the challenge ahead.

“The scoreline of 31-15 perhaps doesn’t reflect how close the game was but overall Accies probably deserved to win,” he said.

“We were 19-3 down at half-time and we were always going to struggle to get back into the game from there.

“Credit to the boys, they came out in the second half and really took the game to the home side, but Accies showed why they’re top of the league by being clinical and taking their chances.”