Ross High secured promotion from East League Division 3 on Saturday, coming from behind to defeat title rivals Gala YM in the Borders.

The home side knew a win was required to stop Ross High securing promotion with two matches still to play, and they started the match in more promising fashion.

A trio of penalties moved them to 9-0 ahead early on after Ross High fell foul of the referee at the breakdown.

The county club bounced back, though, and responded with the game’s first try – Liam Law the man who went over after a free-flowing break. The conversion, from out wide, was off-target, so it was 9-5.

The Ross High pack were beginning to take control of the match and took the lead on 20 minutes, with Malcolm crashing over from a rolling maul. Once more the kick was missed, but Ross High held a one-point lead after the first quarter.

Mistakes crept into the match, particularly from the travelling side, and the Borders outfit took full advantage, scoring two converted tries underneath the posts, and with both kicks being added, Ross High looked to be up against it as half-time neared.

They were 23-10 behind at the break after no further first-half scoring and knew they needed to score next to have any chance of overhauling the deficit.

Whatever the Ross High coaches said at the break had the desired effect, as Ross Cowan went over just minutes after the restart to reduce the Gala YM lead.

Hood, not having his best afternoon from the kicking tee, was once more wide of the mark with the conversion, but the gap was down to eight.

Strong work by the forward pack was a feature of the visitors’ play on Saturday and, after they won another penalty in a stop-start affair, Hood kicked to touch and Ross High set up another powerful maul. They surged towards the Gala YM line, Stephen Ketchen was in control at the back, and he snuck over for their third try. Hood made no mistake this time, and the county club were just one point adrift again, with the hour mark approaching.

Hood kicked a penalty to put Ross ahead, before the match took a turn for the worse, as Ross High saw their playing stock reduced with a yellow and a red card.

The county club were given a let-off as the home side missed a simple penalty attempt while they had been reduced to 14 men, with Tinlin in the sin bin for a professional foul.

And things got worse for the visitors after Connor Ramsey was sent off and Ross were reduced to 13 men.

Both goalkickers exchanged further penalties but Ross defended their slender lead before Tinlin returned.

And with just two minutes left, the hosts kicked to touch from a penalty, looking to run down the clock, and they set up another formidable looking maul.

They drove towards the line, Gala YM collapsed the maul and the referee awarded a penalty try. It was converted, the referee blew for full-time, and there were scenes of jubilation as Ross celebrated promotion back to East Division 2.

Ross’s penultimate league fixture of the season takes place tomorrow (Saturday), away at Queensferry.