North Berwick bounced back from defeat to Dalkeith earlier in the season to maintain their unbeaten start to the year at Recreation Park on Saturday.

Head coach Rhodri Thomas recalled Gareth Walker at full-back, meaning Liam West reverted to the number 10 jersey, while Jonny Riddell moved to the back-row as Iain Dove partnered Matt Sanderson at lock, with captain Adam Macnair again missing out.

Things started poorly for the home side, though, as a poorly-fielded kick allowed the visiting winger to gather the loose ball and dive over after just three minutes. The simple conversion was added and North Berwick were 0-7 down.

Despite the early try, North Berwick responded well and the visitors gave away a number of penalties at the breakdown, allowing the hosts field position.

And after several phases, the hosts worked a three-man overlap out wide, which allowed Walker in to score near the posts. West’s conversion, though, was wide, and North Berwick still trailed, 5-7 inside the first 10 minutes.

The home side started to control the game, despite the losses of Iain Dove and Ben Inglis to injury, with Jamie Armstrong and Grant Black their replacements, and Riddell back in the boiler house of the second row.

Stand-off West made up for his earlier conversion miss with a penalty on half an hour to put the home side in front by a point.

And there was more West family involvement just before the break as flying winger Murray West crossed for his 26th try of the season to extend the hosts’ lead. His brother was off-target with the conversion, but it was 13-5 to North Berwick at the break.

Shortly after the restart, North Berwick introduced Grant Craig to the midfield, vice-captain Cal Mark the man to give way, and he took over the kicking duties for a long-range attempt on 46 minutes. The veteran landed the kick, and extended the lead to 16-7.

The Dalkeith pack began to tire and North Berwick were looking dangerous every time they had the ball in space.

Bhrian Buchanan, Riddell and Jamie Dove were starting to make inroads with strong runs in the forwards, while Armstrong and Sanderson were working hard at the breakdown.

The North Berwick back three would all get on the score sheet, as Graeme Fairgrieve was on hand to benefit from great work by Liam West and Gareth Walker. The conversion was wide, but it did not matter, as the home side held on to claim a valuable win.

They have now leapfrogged Dalkeith into second place in the league, and will hope to put more pressure on leaders Berwick when they take on Portobello in the Capital tomorrow (Saturday).

North Berwick: G Walker, G Fairgrieve, A Elder, C Mark, M West; L West, G Spence; L Inglis, B Buchanan, A Gallagher, M Sanderson, I Dove, J Riddell, B Inglis, J Dove.