Dunbar inflicted more misery on North Berwick, fresh off their Shield semi-final defeat a week earlier, as they won the final East Lothian derby of the season on Saturday, Both sides battled hard early on and Dunbar had the better of the opening exchanges, with their forward pack dominant, but handling errors letting the hosts off the hook.

And the efforts of the Dunbar pack brought reward on six minutes, when a well-controlled maul allowed visiting stand-off Ross Charlton to kick cross-field to Antoin Penrose, who gathered, and scored.

Only superb cover defence from Kyle Smith prevented North Berwick levelling the scores just a few minutes later and, from a penalty advantage, the hosts turned down the three-pointer to kick for the corner.

The NB drive was surging towards the try line and they crashed over, but the man in possession was judged to be touch-in-goal and the referee awarded a 22m drop-out.

In a match dominated by the Dunbar pack, the visitors looked to have their second try just before half-time, as Jamie Peters beat Jonny Riddell and opposite number Liam West to score, but the referee judged he had been held up over the line, so a scrum was awarded.

And North Berwick stunned their hosts, in a reversal of their fortunes the previous weekend, with two tries before the break to go in ahead.

Matt Sanderson was the man credited with the first, after the pack powered over, and the impressive Murray West got the second, some poor Dunbar tackling allowing him over in the corner.

Liam West missed both kicks, but NB led 10-5 at the interval.

Penrose was a shining light for the visitors and he was on the end of a brilliant Gary Peebles pass early in the second half, as he beat Gareth Walker to score his second try of the game.

That levelled the scores at 10-apiece, but parity was not restored for long, as North Berwick scored again.

Turnover ball was the catalyst for North Berwick’s third try, with Liam West gathering and sprinting clear of the covering defenders to score.

Head coach Rhodri Thomas will have been frustrated to see the third conversion sail wide of the mark from the NB number 10, but they had their noses back in front, 15-10.

Grant Spence went over for North Berwick again, to extend their advantage, but opposite number nine Blair Mills responded in kind as he scored a fine solo try to get the visitors back into the match at 20-17.

And they completed their Recreation Park comeback when Andrew Wightman barged his way over from close range, after Richie Gallacher and Gary Peters were stopped short.

Charlton converted, and, for the last quarter, Dunbar held on, despite Steven Low and Gallacher being sent to the sin-bin, the latter moments after Low had returned from his cooling-off period.

Callum Low’s side held on, though, to record their first derby win of the season, and will now look forward to welcoming their visitors from Skerries, outside Dublin, to Hallhill this weekend.

Defeat ended any mathematical chance of North Berwick being promoted to the national leagues.

Both sides have tomorrow (Saturday) off before their final matches next Saturday (March 28) – NB at Hawick Linden and Dunbar at home to Linlithgow.