Edinburgh Accies 6 - 21 Heriot's: Accies down to Premier 2

This loss, combined with Watsonians' surprise win at Melrose, sent Accies down a division and they will play Premier 2 rugby next season.

Accies fell behind to an early Graham Wilson penalty and a superb try from Heriot's flanker Michael Maltman, but the home side threatened to make a match of it either at side of half time when they raised a head of steam and, but for the width of the post, would have snatched a lead.

Gavin Douglas struck a penalty just before and just after the break and, with his forwards dominating for the only time in the game, the Accies fly-half then hit the post with another effort on 50 minutes which would have given his side a one-point lead. But that was as close as they came and Heriot's increasingly tightened their grip on this game the longer it went on.

When Ed Stuart was sent to the sin bin on 60 minutes the home side lost six crucial points and, more importantly, all their momentum.

It might have been a different story if Accies had made the most of a first half that they dominated thanks to canny use of the swirling wind. Instead they did the hard work well, opening up the Heriot's defence, and then managed to butcher several opportunities with the goal-mouth gaping wide open.

Winger Tom Brown delayed his pass just a fraction of a second but it was enough to allow Paul Loudon to over-run the move and the centre was called back for the forward pass when he thought he'd scored a try. Matt Coupar found himself in a foot race with Heriot's fly-half Greig Rutherford after Loudon hacked ahead but the classy winger was beaten by the bounce of the ball behind the goal line.

At least it was something of a personal triumph for former Scotland fullback Stuart Moffat who was clearly up for the challenge, which is more than can be said for some of his colleagues. The big full-back kicked brilliantly from hand and his thumping tackle on a flying Willie Blacklock, if props can ever really "fly", was a thing of rare beauty. Loudon brought some class to everything he did and Douglas made more breaks in the second half than he has in the rest of the season combined. Still it wasn't enough.

Heriot's won this match up front where they had too much muscle and nous for the lightweight Accies pack. When Accies got into the red zone and tried to muscle their way over the Heriot's line they got no change from the steely defence. Chris Fusaro was outstanding on the flank, aggressive and dynamic. Jamie Syme carried willingly from number eight and the front row had the better of Accies for most of this match despite Alan Dymock being a late call off.

After fending off Accies' fightback, Heriot's went about extending their slender one-point lead in the final half hour and all the points went to the scrumhalf and skipper Graham Wilson. First up he kicked two penalties, the second given away by Accies flanker David Denton for sheer stupidity, and the same man dived in for a short-range try before jumping up, dusting himself off and knocking over the conversion, which turned out to be the last kick of the match. A decent day's work all round, not that everyone in Raeburn place agreed.

Edinburgh Accies: Moffat; Brown, Loudon, Wilson, Coupar; Douglas, Martin; McLeod, Cherry, Niven, Stuart, Campbell, Snape, Drennan, Teague. Subs: Patience, Strachan, Denton, Bonner, Sole.

Heriot's: Goudie; Teague, Saunders, Mill, Nimmo; Rutherford, Wilson; Welch, Meikle, Blacklock, O'Connor, Reid, Maltman, Fusaro, Syme. Subs: Bryce, Owenson, Osazuwa, Eccles, Brown.

Scorers: Accies – Pen: Douglas (2). Heriot's – Tries: Maltman, Wilson. Conv: Wilson. Pens: Wilson (3).

Referee: Knox.