Heriot-Watt deal derby blow to Edinburgh

Heriot-Watt University took a major step forward in their quest to win this season's inter-Scottish Universities Queen's Park Shield when they beat their Capital rivals, Edinburgh University, 1-0 thanks to a first-half strike from Chris Donnelly.

Heriot-Watt are now six points ahead of Edinburgh with three of the eight league fixtures played. In blustery conditions, Heriot-Watt played with the wind behind them although it was Edinburgh who almost took the lead on a couple of early occasions with Alasdair MacKinnon going close with a header which hit the underside of the crossbar.

A shot from long range on 30 minutes from Andy Forbes was parried by Mark Tait in the Edinburgh goal and Donnelly followed up to squeeze the ball into the net from a tight angle.

The second half was keenly contested and Edinburgh came close to equalising with Dan Ward, James Craigen and Mark Gair all missing the target from good positions.

Michael Renwick, the Heriot- Watt head coach, said: "It was a very close game in which Edinburgh started much better and it took us fully 20 minutes to settle down. There was not a lot in it."