Melrose 18-20 Watsonians: Aitchison leaves on a high as Watsonians stay in top flight

Coach Bruce Aitchison, who is standing down from his post, could hardly look when Scott Wight lined up an injury-time penalty that would have consigned his side to relegation.

Wight missed for the fourth time and, in a signal of relief and emotion, Aitchison shook hands with every Watsonian player.

"We deserved that," said Aitchison. "I have never beaten Melrose at the Greenyards before and I thought that the boys were superb. They worked really hard and players like Ally Hogg and Marcus Di Rollo give you a huge lift.

"We all contributed massively for that is a very good Melrose side. But we had to battle and scrap and we stuck in to show great discipline. We took our chances, which is something that we have not done that often this season."

On the future of Watsonians, Aitchison said: "It is the difference between holding on to these players and losing them. If we had gone down, the person who takes over from me would have to start from scratch again and that is a difficult job.

"Whoever takes over, will take these players onwards and upwards and stay away from a relegation battle next season. It has been a slog over the past two years, but these players are exceptionally talented."

Aitchison could not hide his pride after this shock victory when the news came through that Edinburgh Accies had lost and would be relegated.

However, he is undecided about his own future. "Two clubs have contacted me and it will not work for one reason or another, but I cannot stay shopping on a Saturday afternoon and so I expect that I will be involved in one way or other.

"I may take some time off, but I will be back – especially on days like this – the sun is shining, the sky is blue, you are at the Greenyards and you stay in Premiership 1. Those are stories to tell."

Hogg is now also refocusing his career with Edinburgh as well. "It has been a hard year for Watsonians and we did not deserve to be in Premier 2. Hopefully we can regroup in the summer. A few of us have not won here and to get the win was fantastic."

For Melrose, it was an unexpected hitch ahead of the cup final against Ayr next week, and the result completed a bad week for troubled coach Craig Chalmers as he prepares to appear at a disciplinary hearing at Murrayfield on Wednesday to explain an alleged incident with a match official at the Melrose Sevens last week.

"It was disappointing, but we will pick ourselves up," said Melrose president Mike Dalgetty.

It looked as though second-half tries by Fraser Thomson and Robert Chrystie had turned the game Melrose's way, before Richard Minto added to Stuart McInally and Mike Ker's tries.

Ker missed a couple of conversions, but kept his cool to slot the winning penalty in 78 minutes, while the team held their breath as Wight pulled his kick wide.

Aitchison said: "We matched Melrose in first-phase play. They have a superb backline, but some of our defence was immense. I think that rattled them."

Scorers: Melrose: Tries: Thomson, Chrystie. Con: Wight. Pens: Wight (2). Watsonians: Tries: McInally, Ker, Minto. Con: Ker. Pen: Ker.

Melrose: F Thomson; C Anderson, P Horne, J King, B Allen; S Wight, S McCormick; K Cooney, L Gibson, R Higgins, G Dodds, G Elder, J Dalziel, G Runciman, R Miller. Subs: R Ferguson, A Gillie, S Johnson, R Chrystie, J Helps.

Watsonians: A Rowe; R Minto, M Di Rollo, D Brown, M Learmonth; M Ker, J Blackwood; N Hart, G Wood, K Coertze, T Weizman, D Seed, S McInally, M Fedo, A Hogg. Subs: G Scott, G Walsh, J Pelter, N Dennis, J Forbes.

Referee: A McPherson.