Preston Lodge continued their march in National League Division 3 with an impressive win away to East Kilbride on Saturday, where they ran out 16-18 winners in a hard-fought contest.

Captain Chris Dixon was moved out of the PL pack and into the midfield, as the visitors recalled Graeme Patterson at full-back and Dale Gordon at scrum-half.

The home side kicked an early penalty to go 3-0 ahead, but Patterson levelled matters with a three-pointer of his own four minutes later.

And the first try followed shortly after, as Bruce Stoddart and Blair Cowan helped the county side into their hosts’ half, before winning a penalty.

Patterson kicked PL within five metres of the East Kilbride line, and they used pack power to force their way over, as Jason Riley barged his way across. Patterson’s conversion was wide, but the hosts led 3-8.

But the two sides, evenly matched throughout the opening period, would go in level at the break after a brilliant solo try from centre Ian Brown, who beat a number of PL defenders before going over in the corner. And the home side duly took the lead shortly after the resumption. Despite missing a straightforward penalty attempt, they went over for their second try to extend their lead to 16-8 and leave Mark Steedman’s side with a mountain to climb.

Preston Lodge mounted a comeback, though, and crossed for their second try of the afternoon when Darren Eales went over for his fourth try in two games after a sustained period of pressure on the East Kilbride line. Patterson added the conversion to make the score 16-15 and set up a tense final quarter.

The visiting support only had to wait another five minutes, though, before their side was back in front because Patterson was on target again with another penalty that made the score 16-18, but with both sides giving their all, the match was far from over.

Those same supporters were the ones whose nerves were most frayed by the end, as East Kilbride piled on the pressure.

In the 70th minute, they kicked a penalty to touch 10 metres from the PL line, but Steedman’s charges stood strong and managed to clear the danger.

The pressure was causing PL to make mistakes and they were forced into conceding a free-kick in the 74th minute and, even worse, a penalty just a minute later. Fortunately, though, the hosts’ kick at goal was missed and PL’s narrow lead remained intact.

As the 80th minute approached, PL were able to regroup and retain possesion through several phases inside the home half. EK tried to steal the ball back but the referee judged that they had infringed and awarded a penalty to PL. Patterson’s final kick at goal was missed but as the ball went dead, the final whistle went and a gutsy win had been secured.

It was a great defensive performance from the visiting PL side, and the win meant the club remained in second position in the league, just five points behind the leaders Dumfries.

They will hope to maintain their good form against Murrayfield Wanderers at the Pennypit on Saturday.

Preston Lodge: G Patterson, J Brash, P Glynn, C Dixon, N Ross; H Munro, D Gordon; N Hart, P Johnstone, D Eales, B Stoddart, B Cowan, J Sked, J Riley, R Mackie.