Currie 19-17 Boroughmuir: Currie hang on

Currie kept their top-four hopes alive with a victory over Boroughmuir at Malleny Park, but they were made to work hard for it in the end.

This really was a game of two halves, Currie dominating the first and Boroughmuir the second.

The home side got off to a strong start and they won a penalty in Boroughmuir territory after just 90 seconds.

James Semple took the kick, but it hit the post and bounced to safety.

In the fifth minute they did take the lead though when they shipped the ball right and a good pass by Robbie Nelson put captain Ross Weston in for a try. Semple’s conversion effort again hit the upright.

It continued to be all Currie and in the 14th minute they added their second try.

The score was a cracker too, Semple floated a pass into midfield and Scotland under-20 cap Harvey Elms ran on to the ball and then burst through the defence to score from 40 metres out. Semple converted.

The third try for the home side came just after 20 minutes, the impressive Nelson making the most of some poor tackling to power his way over from ten metres. Semple converted from out wide and it looked like being a long day for Muir.

In the 25th minute the visitors, already without a host of key players such as Andy Rose, Sean Crombie and Craig Marshall, lost another key duo.

Craig Bachurzewski and Jordan Edmunds limped off in tandem, with Robby Wilson and Robbie Smith coming on.

When Boroughmuir did finally exert some pressure on the Currie line, with skipper Cal Davies and Callum Reid going close, the home defence stood firm and turned the ball over.

Boroughmuir knew they needed a good start to the second half to have any chance off getting back into this one.

And they did just that when Alex Cox set-up Craig Keddie for a try. David Reekie missed the conversion, but at least they now had themselves on the scoreboard.

Muir continued to look better and were in the Currie half threatening when they lost Sam Johnson to the sin-bin.

That was in the 57th minute, but Currie did not use the man advantage well and in fact it was the visitors who continued to look more likely to score.

In the 65th minute Currie gave away a number of penalties on their own line and it was no surprise when referee Neil Paterson yellow carded one of them, Cyprus international Fidias Efthymiou was the man to go.

A minute later Boroughmuir’s second try of the day came from 
Keddie again, but Reekie missed the conversion and they were still 19-10 down.

In a frantic ending Currie substitute Richard Snedden was yellow carded to allow Boroughmuir’s Reid to bag their third try and when Reekie converted they were just two points behind.

In the end Currie held on, but they should have had this game out of sight and seemed to switch off after the interval as Muir picked up a losing bonus point.