Preston Lodge 35 Kirkcaldy 26

PRESTON Lodge secured a hard-fought win over Kirkcaldy at the Pennypit on Saturday.

Andrew Clark’s side struck first when Antoin Penrose took advantage of an overlap to score out wide, but the visitors were quickly level thanks to replacement prop Marcus Salt.

Kirkcaldy took the lead thanks to a try from Josh Laird, just four minutes after they had levelled.

Craig Letham’s conversion saw the Fifers lead 5-12 after half an hour.

An end-to-end first half took another twist when PL crashed over for a second time, as Pete Johnstone was driven over by his pack colleagues from a line-out.

The missed conversion, though, meant Kirkcaldy still held a two-point lead as the half-time break loomed.

Before the interval, a flare-up saw PL’s Darren Eales and Kirkcaldy’s James Pow sent to the sin-bin, while Letham joined them shortly after for a high tackle.

On the stroke of half-time, PL took the lead after a brilliant cross-kick by Robbie Griffin was collected by full-back Paul Glynn, who touched down in the corner.

Again, Bryan Walls missed a tough conversion, but the home side led 15-12 at the break.

Better was to follow for Clark’s men after the restart, as Nathan Ross raced clear to score their fourth try and secure a bonus point for the Pennypit outfit.

Walls converted as the lead grew to 10 points, but Kirkcaldy seemed reinvigorated on the hour, and scored their third try through Rory Brown, which Letham converted.

Both sides were now chasing victory, and the home side struck a decisive blow with their fifth try late on, which Walls again converted.

A dramatic 80 minutes saw Danny Jennings then go over for the visitors, and PL were only assured of victory thanks to a pair of late drop-goals by scrum-half Walls.

Clark’s men are next in league action when they take on second-bottom Ardrossan Accies next Saturday (March 4).

Preston Lodge: P Glynn, A Penrose, D Gordon, E Runciman, N Ross; R Griffin, B Walls; C Baikie, P Johnstone, D Eales, J Sked, B Cowan, S McColl, J Riley, A Whittingham.