Kelso 8 Hillhead/Jordanhill 12

Kelso 8 Hillhead / Jordanhill 12

Kelso lost out in this relegation battle at Poynder Park. In truth it was a poor match played in poor conditions. Kelso started the better of the two but it was not until the 15th min that the first score came. The Kelso hooker Darren Gillespie, sold a dummy on the half way line , then ran 50m to score a very good individual try. The lead didn’t last long however as Marty Lane went over under the posts when the ball fortuitously popped out of a maul near the Kelso line and he was on hand to pick up and score. Martin Yorstan converted to give Hills a 7-5 lead. Kelso regained the lead in 35 mins when Ewan Ford kicked a penalty after 35 mins. By this stage play was very scrappy and lots of errors were being made by the players. Even the Referee got caught up in this malaise as he failed to spot a knock on when Will Marshall was allowed to score a try deep into injury time. This gave Hills a 12-8 half time lead.

The second half from the Kelso supporter’s point of view was worse. Conditions were bad and it was difficult to recognise which team was which. One certainly couldn’t fault the commitment of the players but their decision making at times was questionable and the error count was too high. Rarely in the second half did Kelso manage to shake off the stranglehold that Hills exerted. Wovever Kelso defended doggedly and no further scores came. This result leaves Kelso in a difficult position and there will now be a tremendous scrap for the rest of the season between Kelso, Biggar, Selkirk and Hillhead/Jordanhill to see who will be relegated.