Musselburgh 26

Jed-Forest 55

MUSSELBURGH fell to a heavy defeat at home to Jed-Forest on Saturday as the club paid its tributes to former player Nicky Johnstone, who passed away suddenly last week.

A minute’s silence took place at Stoneyhill and across the Honest Toun at the 2nd XV game at Pinkie Playing Fields as Burgh remembered the 39-year-old.

It took Jed just eight minutes to get the scoring under way, winger Robbie Shirra-Gibb going over in the corner for an unconverted try.

Burgh came into the game more, with the pack winning penalties and Danny Owenson kicking Burgh deep into Jed territory, from where the hosts drove over the line, and Willie Fleming was awarded the try. Owenson converted for a 7-5 lead.

Danny’s brother Craig then drove over after strong carries by his pack colleagues, Fleming and Colin Arthur to the fore in the tight, allowing the prop to score.

His brother converted to put Burgh nine points to the good before Darren Gillespie grabbed a second try for Jed.

Gillespie scored his second try in quick succession to put Jed ahead and the conversion gave them a three-point buffer.

The Borders outfit wrapped up a bonus point before the break when scrum-half Sean Goodfellow darted over, leaving Burgh two scores adrift (14-22) at half-time.

And the second half was only six minutes old when Monty Mitchell grabbed Jed’s fifth try, touching down after a good team move. Yourston converted and the visitors all-but sealed victory when Lewis Young scored.

Gillespie then completed his hat-trick before Sandy Watt grabbed a third try for the Stoneyhill men, giving them quarter of an hour to chase a try bonus point.

Instead, Jed’s Rory Marshall and Shirra-Gibb went over late on, but Burgh did manage their fourth try through Ben Hibberd to ensure they were not left empty-handed.

Stewart’s Melville, who currently occupy the final relegation place, were 18-22 winners at Aberdeen Grammar, cutting the gap between them and Burgh to six points.

Burgh’s next outing is next Saturday (February 10) when they travel to fourth-place Selkirk.

Musselburgh: J Doig, R Smith, A Cook, R Watt, S Watt; G Pritchard, D Owenson; C Owenson, C Slaven, C Arthur, W Fleming, G McKinstry, E Milton, B Graham, L Hutson.