Preston Lodge took a giant step towards promotion from National Division 3 after a hard-fought win over closest challengers Dumfries Saints on Saturday.

Going into the match, the visitors knew they needed to win to keep the pace with Lasswade and Preston Lodge at the top of the table, while the county club knew it was a must-win clash if they were to have any chance of winning the title.

Mark Steedman recalled Stuart McLean in the front-row after a long absence, while James Burnett made his 1st XV debut in the second row; the remainder of the side was largely unchanged.

Both sides looked dangerous early on, with the significance of the encounter not deterring either side from throwing the ball about. Graeme Patterson was the man who got the game’s first points, kicking PL 3-0 ahead with a penalty, but Dumfries hit back and scored the first try of the day. Jonny Brash tried to run out of his own 22, was caught and turned over, and the ball was worked from left to right, allowing Euan Laverty to go over in the corner.

It remained 3-5 for the majority of the opening half, although breaks from Brash and Raymond Mackie nearly brought the home side some joy, but good cover defending thwarted any danger.

Steedman will have been disappointed to see Jonny Sked sent to the sin bin on the stroke of half-time, but PL held out.

While the first 40 minutes had been for the rugby purists, with not many scoring chances, the second half was to be a free-flowing, entertaining affair.

Mackie’s break seemed certain to end in PL’s first try, but he was hauled down near the line after a superb covering tackle.

Dumfries had a man sent to the bin for 10 minutes after a high tackle and Patterson kicked PL ahead with his second penalty.

Brash then made up for his earlier error on the hour, as Wilson cut through the PL defence, only for the full-back’s expertly-timed covering tackle to deny him the try.

For the next five minutes or so, it was all Dumfries as PL struggled to get their hands on the ball. Eventually the pressure became too much, and a penalty was conceded on the 22, right in front of the posts. John Carlisle made no mistake with the kick to put Dumfries 6-8 up.

That lead only lasted three minutes, though, because as soon as PL had kicked off again and Dale Gordon and Hamish Munro had set up a move in midfield, Dumfries were penalised and Patterson made no mistake with his third penalty.

The referee was penalising both sides with some regularity at the breakdown, and PL conceded another three points from the boot of Carlisle.

Dumfries had a second man sent to the sin bin late on for a deliberate knock-down, PL turning down the three-point opportunity. Gordon tapped and went, feeding Patterson, who turned a lovely inside ball to former Haddington man Paul McClung, into the action from the bench, and he hit the line, beat the would-be tacklers and crashed over. Patterson converted PL’s 100th try of the season and they held out for a valuable win.

They face another stern test tomorrow (Saturday), with Lasswade their destination as they take on the league leaders.

Preston Lodge: J Brash, D Cunningham, H Munro, R Mackie, P Cooney; G Patterson, D Gordon; S McLean, P Johnstone, P Dixon, B Stoddart, J Burnett, J Sked, C Dixon, J Riley.