JED-FOREST R.F.C

Riverside Park

Jedburgh

TD8 6UE

01835 862232

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4th April                                                Jed-Forest 51 - 20 Livingston

Livingston kicked an early penalty with the wind before Jed hit back with a Ewan Scott Penalty and a Marti Hastie drop goal. Livingston deservedly took the lead with a converted try and looked like they were going to score again but Roy McFarlane intercepted on our own line and ran ran the length of the pitch to land a cruel blow on Livingston. Jed were now into the game and starting to fare evenly when Jamie McCaw rounded his opposite winger easily to score in the corner and give Jed a 16 - 10 half time lead.

You sensed that Livingston would tire playing into the wind, especially if we could get a couple of early second half scores but credit to them and after Marti Hastie had wriggled over at the road side corner to stretch our lead they slowed us down and scored another try. Robert Hogg then made a good break and he fed Paul Pringle on the 10 yard line who rounded a couple of slower forwards but you thought the covering full back would easily get him but good pace by Paul and a weak covering tackle let him in the corner to make it 26 - 15. Jed were now being awarded regular penalties and after a kick to the corner produced nothing Ewan Scott decided to go for goal and he found his range again after 4 missed conversions to stretch our lead further. Ross Goodfellow then produced a great piece of skill and power when he fond himself behind a ruck on the touch line, he dummied a long pass then broke up the very narrow blind side and he then used his hulking bulk to take 2 Livingston defenders over the line with him and he touched down in the corner. Jamie McCraw juggled nicely to score next and he completed his hat trick 10 minutes later when he ran round to score under the posts, Ewan Scott kicked the conversion, his only one of the day although the rest were wide to be fair. Livi got a consolation try before Ross Goodfellow completed the scoring with a try to make it 51 - 20, the ref blew up before Scott had the chance to convert.

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28th March                                           Musselburgh 14-20 Jed-Forest

Jed eventually fought their way to victory in their final league match of the season, with a result that sealed the fate of the home side to life in Prem 3 next season.

It was always going to be a passionate display from the home side who needed a win to have any hope of avoiding relegation this combined with a referee unwilling to stop the breakdowns becoming a free for all led to a pretty scrappy affair. It was Musselburgh who opened with a penalty for a 3-0 lead and Scott missed an opportunity to level it up midway through the half. Jed were making plenty of scoring opportunities but were careless in the execution when close to the try line on several occasions. Jed eventually finished of a try after 30 minutes when a good break from lineout ball on half way was finished off by Robert Hogg after good work from Mcfarlane. Musselburgh got another penalty virtually straight after the restart to regain the lead. Jed then looked to have scored a fine try from Robert Hogg who heading under the posts after beating several defenders in a fine run from 60m, when the linesman called for a debatable forward pass earlier in the move. So it remained 6-5 to Musselburgh at half time.

In the second half Jed started badly when Goodfellow was penalised for a knock-down at the back of the Musselburgh scrum to allow them to extend the lead to 9-5. This seemed to lift Musselburgh and some very ordinary defence allowed them to make their way into Jed territory and their stand off beat several attempted tackles to touchdown for a 14-5 lead 10 minutes into the half with Jed getting increasingly frustrated in dealing with the slow pick and drive game from the home pack with players continually off their feet. Jed scrum had been dominating all game and with wind advantage still hoped to get back in the game and did so midway through the half when some good quick ball from the forwards allowed the backs to carry out a set move to perfection that saw McFarlane touch down in the corner. The conversion was again missed so 14-10. Indiscipline at a ruck saw Jed penalised at halfway and then marched back 10 for throwing the ball away gave Musselburgh a long range penalty that was unsuccessful. Then with 10 minutes to go Gary Holborn was carded after another penalty at a breakdown. Jed were still going for broke though and when a penalty was tapped and ran from their own half Henderson made a great break through the middle and found Pringle screaming up in support to take the pass and blitz in from 40m out and give Scott an easy conversion for a 17-14 lead. There was still time for Jed to get on the attack again and Scott added a penalty to take it to 20-14 and end Musselburghs’ hopes of survival in Prem 2.

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28th Feb                                                          Biggar 6 - 17 Jed-Forest

Jed secured the double over Biggar in a game that was much closer than the final score suggested. It was always going to be a difficult game for Jed who had not played a competitive fixture since January and had also lost the services of captain Neil Cook with a serious knee injury in a training match add to that goal kickers Seb Trotter and young Euan Scott were also unavailable.

Biggar won the toss and elected to play into the stiff breeze blowing down the pitch. Biggar had Jed defending early on after failing to deal with an aimless kick that drifted infield and caught out the Jed cover allowing Biggar to hack up to the Jed 5m line but Jed secured the scrum and were able to clear. Both teams were looking pretty rusty in the early stages but Jed eventually started to threaten in the Biggar 22 and after the home side were caught offside at a scrum Jed went for the kick at goal but Chris Laidlaw in his first outing for 4 months missed a simple opportunity to go in front. Biggar than missed a long range effort and were starting to look dangerous when stand off Muir was running at defenders. Jed the made a tremendous break when prop Gary Holborn split the midfield defence and looked set to draw the last defender and feed to McCraw who was outpacing the home cover when he was pulled down before he get the pass. To add to this the the Biggar player then punched McCraw in front of the referee that required treatment for a blood injury but amazingly this resulted in only a penalty to Jed about 20 metres out with no action against the Biggar player!!! Chris Laidlaw stepped up and made no mistake with this one for a 3-0 lead. This is how the score remained as neither side managed to take command of the game mainly due to the “competition” / mess at the breakdown this finally resulted in Robert Ferguson being yellow carded right on half time for coming in at the side.

Biggar had the elements in their favour for the second half and the rain had also started. An early penalty levelled the scores and it looked ominous for Jed as they were giving away too many needless penalties at this stage. The bonus for Jed was the scrum, which was looking strong and they definitely got a huge lift when they turned over a Biggar put in when down to a 7man scrum. At this stage Jed were guilty of kicking away to much possession that allowed Biggar time to hoof the ball back over our heads and make us start again. This allowed them to get another kick at goal when they cleverly held the ball in the air at the lineout and when the defence came up too quick it allowed Biggar to kick the penalty for a 6-3 lead. Jed then started to keep the ball in hand and run it back from deep and this resulted in getting play up to the Biggar 22. A penalty saw Jed kick to the corner but knock on at the lineout. The Jed pack back up to 8 men though turned over the scrum and then after a couple of pushover attempts had been unsuccessful when the hookers popped up the referee signalled a penalty try that allowed Chris to convert for a 10-6 lead with 15 minutes to go.

Jed were in no mood to relinquish this lead that they had fought hard to regain and were defending with much more aggression this resulted in McFarlane latching on to a loose ball and he looked like going clear to score but a good offload to the supporting McCraw allowed him to touchdown at the posts for a score he thoroughly deserved for his efforts. The conversion was added for 17-6 and Biggar threw everything at Jed in injury time but there was no way they were going to cross the Jed line.

Not a classic performance but a great team effort to dig deep and grind out the result. The scrum was tremendous and ultimately won the game for us today.

Jed are now level on points with Peebles but Stew Mel have a game in hand in second and still look favourites for promotion. Jed have Kelso at home on Saturday and will be looking to make amends for one of our more disappointing league performances earlier in the season down at Poynder that saw us lose 20-14.

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20th Dec                                                   Haddington 18 - 10 Jed-Forest 

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13th Dec                                                    Stew Mel 33-12 Jed-Forest

Saturday started badly for Jed when problems with our bus saw us late in leaving Jed and after the first 20 minutes we might have been better of staying in Jed. Stew Mel started strongly but the Jed defence seemed up to the task until some blatant obstruction at the ruck allowed their scrum half to break through and score in the corner. This rattled the Jed players and Stew Mel continued to dominate early possession and some weak defence and terrible kicking created an overlap for them and their pacy winger touched down for another converted score. Jed then got a grip of things and started to play the game in there half and some fine play took them up to the Stew Mel line but a crazy decision to spin the ball wide when we didn’t have any numbers out wide was punished when a long pass was again of target and was fly hacked the full length of the pitch for their third touchdown. Jed again dominated possession for the rest of the half but made to many errors when they got into the opposition 22 and so trailed 19-0 at half time. Jed felt if they could get the next score they could easily get back into the game but would have to stop turning over ball or conceding penalties when in possession. The killer blow came in the 10 minutes into the half when Stew Mel scored their fourth try and secure a bonus point. Jed then broke their duck with a pushover try when Stew Mel eventually had a man sin binned for slowing ball. Jed were getting frustrated at themselves and the erratic decisions from the officials none more so than for the next score when Greg Walker was tackled when waiting to field a high ball and when they played on and the Stew Mel player knocked on as he broke clear the Stew Mel bench could only laugh at their good fortune, it was a very different tale on the Jed side! To their credit Jed scored another try out wide Scott Laidlaw getting his second try this time converted by Trotter. This was how it finished to give Stew Mel a 6 point advantage over Jed but we still have a game in hand against Biggar. However we will need to do some serious re-grouping after such a shambolic display against a side we have been ahead of all season until now. Not much to shout about for Jed but Gary Hill continually broke the line but we were never able to fully exploit this, Jamie McCraw had a decent game and James Henderson battled well up front. Jed are on the road again next week and it is important the REAL Jed_Forest actually turn up on time next Sat or any hopes of Premier 1 rugby will be over.

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25th Oct                                         Jed-Forest  16-11 GHA

Jed got back to winning ways at Riverside with a hard earned victory against a stuffy GHA side in atrocious conditions that were always going to make it hard to play any fluent rugby.

GHA were playing with the elements in the first half so it was no real surprise that they were able to open the scoring when Noonan banged over a penalty after Jed had started quite well but were penalised for offside at a ruck for a 3-0 lead. The visitors extended this with a try following a good crosskick that found the Jed cover out of position and allowed their fullback to squeeze over in the corner. The conversion was missed and Jed tried desperately to get points on the board but to no avail as Richards missed a short-range penalty and attacking moves broke down with handling errors when close to the line. GHA extended the lead to 11-0 with a fine drop goal but were unable to increase on this and were down to 14 men right on half time when they finally had a player sin binned following a string of penalties for slowing ball down.

The second half started brightly enough for Jed and a Richards penalty got Jed on the scoreboard. Jed got themselves right into the game after 15 minutes of the second half when they had a close range scrum. The Jed scrum had been dominant all day and looked to set for a pushover and as it started to wheel slightly Scott Laidlaw who was now at No 8 picked up and drove over and give Richards a fairly simple conversion to make it 11-10. Jed then seemed to over complicate things for a spell after this and instead of playing simple basic rugby for the conditions, fancy passes and risky offloads were giving back possession too easily. It wasn’t until late in the game that Jed got their noses in front when Richards nailed a penalty following an earlier miss. This was quickly followed by another successful penalty as time ran out and GHA continued to give away a lot of penalties. As usual though Jed gave their supporters a hard time during the 7 minutes of stoppage time when they failed to clear the ball downfield, and a penalty allowed GHA to lay siege to the Jed line but fortunately the defence held firm for probably a deserved victory but another very close call.

The Jed pack put a lot of pressure on the GHA set piece all day and laid the foundations for the win in tricky conditions special mention to veteran prop Badger who had a fine game in his first start of the season until being replaced with cramp late in the game. Garry Elder put in another fine display considering he was a doubt after firing a nail gun into his hand at work earlier in the week. Another tough game is expected this week down at Poynder Park our third derby game on the road this season.

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18th Oct                                           Peebles 15 - 8 Jed-Forest

Jed suffered their second league defeat of the season at a blustery Gytes on Saturday when they succumbed to the deadly boot of kiwi Dan Broughtwood who kicked 5 penalties from 5 attempts from all over the park.

Jed actually looked the better side for the majority of the first half when playing against the wind. An early penalty from Chris Laidlaw gave us the lead but this was quickly cancelled out by two from Broughtwood for very harsh calls for a scrum infringement and another for slight obstruction when driving from a ruck. Jed however got back into Peebles territory following a fine break from Robert Hogg. When Peebles were penalised at a scrum Gary Elder took a quick tap and from a ruck on the Peebles line Robert Ferguson sneaked over in similar fashion to his try against Hamilton the week before.

Jed were unable to hold the lead to halftime though as Broughtwood was again on target from long range penalty. Jed were still strong favourites to win despite being 9-8 down as they had a strong wind behind them and were causing plenty of problems to the Peebles set piece.

Jed started well enough and when Peebles were reduced to 14 men Jed elected to kick to the corner the lineout was well executed but a stray pass allowed Peebles to clear. Another penalty from the other side of the pitch allowed Laidlaw a shot at goal but was just wide of the mark. Jed had another penalty deep in the Peebles 22 but elected to go for the lineout rather than the points but from the resultant drive they lost control of the ball and gave away a penalty. Peebles were taking heart from the Jed mistakes at this stage and they started to find holes in the Jed defence until they broke out to gain a penalty deep in the Jed 22 which allowed them to extend the lead to 12-8. Try as they might Jed just kept on making mistakes and Peebles were making ground tight in with ease and when Broughtwood slotted his 5^th attempt it looked to be the final nail in the coffin and that’s how it finished with Jed knocking on in the last play of the game which pretty much summed up a very inept second half performance. At least we have the comfort of a home match next week but with the 2^nd XV also going down at Peebles it wasn’t a good day for the Jed sides.

There is plenty to put right for next Saturday and with the ex-players lunch we need to perform to a much higher level or will have to take a bit of stick afterwards.

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4th Oct                                         Aberdeen Grammar 16 - 18 Jed-forest

         Jed left it late last weekend to secure victory against Haddington but they pushed it to the limit this week at Rubislaw when Chris Laidlaw secured the points with a 40m penalty kick from the last play of the game.

          Jed started the game well in the first period and really took the game to Aberdeen with the pack doing a fine job in controlling the early possession against the elements. The early pressure went unrewarded on the scoreboard though and it was the home side that eventually broke the deadlock with a penalty on 20minutes when James Hogg was penalised for obstruction following a kick ahead. Aberdeen then used the wind to help put pressure on Jed for the latter stages of the first half and finally crossed out wide at the end of the half when Jed were down to 14 men as James Hogg was yellow carded for knocking down a pass near his own try line. This left the halftime score Aberdeen 8-0 Jed.

          Jed were then asked to put in a big effort after halftime as this has been a problem area for us in recent weeks, but they certainly managed it this week, as they took control of the game and an early penalty by Chris Laidlaw got us going and this was quickly followed by a fine try after several phases the Aberdeen defence was stretched and a superb kick from Laidlaw was taken on the full by winger Robert Hogg who finished superbly leaving a couple of defenders straggling on his way to the line. Chris converted to give us a 10-8 lead and this was almost extended but a penalty came back off the post. It looked at this stage that Jed would go on to take the points with ease however a missed tackle allowed Aberdeen to break from deep and when the Jed scramble defence was penalised for offside Aberdeen kicked the penalty to retake the lead at 11-10. Then moments later Jed again missed a tackle allowing Aberdeen to launch another fine counter attack which this time resulted in a try but the difficult conversion into the wind was missed leaving it 16-10 to Aberdeen.

Jed didn’t panic though and were soon on the attack again and after several phases deep in Aberdeen territory Greg Walker did well to round the defence to touch down. Chris was well off target with the difficult attempt to regain the lead with 7 minutes to go. Aberdeen the just tried to play round the edges and keep the ball to run down the clock, this was starting to frustrate the Jed pack and the eventually conceded a penalty about 25m out for entering the side of the ruck when trying to counter ruck them. Aberdeen turned down the attempt at goal and instead kicked to the corner for the lineout. Garry Elder got up well at the lineout to steal though and importantly get possession of the ball. Jed then battled hard realising time was against us as they went through the phases in a desperate effort to get one last chance and when Aberdeen were penalised at halfway, Gary Holborn took a quick tap and a defender played him without retreating the penalty was awarded 40m from the posts. Up stepped 18 year old Chris Laidlaw to send it straight between the posts to the sound of the final whistle and stunned silence from the Aberdeen support and huge cheer from the players and the few Jed supporters that had made the long trip up to Aberdeen a memorable one.

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27th Sept                                        Jed-Forest 29 - 26 Haddington

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20th Sept                                         Jed-Forest 34 - 18 Stewarts Melville FP

Both Teams went into this match with injury worries, Jed were missing six regular backs and were relying on Chris Richards who had only played half a dozen games last year and none this season to stand in for the injured Chris Laidlaw at stand off.

A slow start to the game could not be blamed on the weather as conditions were perfect and Jed fell behind to a soft try after 10 minutes when several missed tackles let their number 7 barge over under the posts for a converted try. Chris Richards had gotten off to a shaky start but was now finding his feet and Jed were getting back into the game. Gary Hill got us on the score boards after a neat inside pass from Richards, Donald Grieve converted. Stew Mel still had plenty fight and had they handled better we might have been in trouble. We were getting penalised for diving over in the rucks by the English exchange referee, who actually had a fair game and Stew Mel kicked 2 penalties to go 13  7 up.

Jed then had some real pressure on the Stew Mel line in front of the Kop and the ball was switched blind from a ruck and Robert Hogg found space to go over in the corner, Donald missed the kick. Jed found themselves on the attack almost straight after the restart and loop by Richards sent Simon Lightbody through a gap and back up from Greg Walker and Robert Hogg saw Robert over the line for his second try of the match Donald missed the kick to carry on his bad form of last week. Half time was 17 - 13 to Jed.

The restart saw Jed carry on as before and we scored under the posts in slightly bizarre fashion. The ball was shipped to the backs after a ruck and dropped, backwards according to the referee who was right on line and all the Stew Mel defence stopped. Robert Ferguson picked up the loose ball and just strolled in from the 22 uncontested for the bonus point try, Grieve converted.

We seemed to relax and gave Stew Mel a chance to recover and for the next 20 minutes we were hardly out of our own half. Some great defence kept them at bay but they did manage to score a try on the hour to bring them within 6 points. Another missed kick from Donald saw Chris Richards take over kicking duties and he calmed some nerves with a penalty with 10 minutes to go to make it 27 - 18. Another bizarre try finished the game, Greg Walker broke up the stand touch line and chipped the winger it looked like the ball was going out but he somehow jumped and kicked the ball back in and was allowed to carry on and score uncontested, Richards converted. The Stew Mel boys were a bit miffed and I saw it, if it was Jed on the receiving end we would be wondering how Greg did it. Final score 34 - 18.

A great win for Jed and it was a pleasure to watch some running Rugby for a change, Captain Neil Cook was obviously delighted with the win but still thought Jed could step up quite a bit on this performance and gain more consistency. Chris Richards must be congratulated on a fine performance after so long away from such a high level. It's also great to see Gary Elder performing so well he is making good ground when ball carrying and is the big back row we missed last season. Robert and James Hogg also performed well on their first outings this season.

Brief highlights and interveiws here http://www.bordersrugby.net/jforesttv.htm#

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13th Sept                                                 Gala 17 - 18 Jed-Forest

After last weeks monsoon conditions Jed traveled to Gala in perfect rugby conditions and got of to the perfect start with an early try. Gary Hill made a break and hacked the ball forward in the tackle, a great bounce in to Greg Walker's hands put us 5 - 0 up. 

Gala hit back with a converted try in the corner and a penalty to go 10 - 5. Donald Grieve managed to kick a penalty to bring us within 2 points. Jed were now in control of the game, despite losing Scott MacDonald to another shoulder injury and really should have scored more points against a very young Gala back line and a forward pack missing hugely experienced players due to injury. Umpteen drives and scrums on the Gala line eventually paid dividends when Goody fed Gobby on the blind side to give us another unconverted try in the corner. That made it 13 - 8 in our favor at half time.

The game struggled to get going after the break with no one threatening to score, poor kicking and ball retention in contact really slowed everything down. Another spell of pick and goes on the Gala line gave us our third try from Gary Holborn who burrowed over. Donald Grieve once again made a mess of the kick but the try did put us two scores ahead. 

With 20 minutes to go Gala made some subs, and the new center (Cox) and hooker (Christie) made a difference as Gala were driving forward at pace and controlling the ball better. We were never in any real danger though until time was virtually up, Gala scored under the posts and a drop kick conversion made us nervous. We then forced a turn over at the re-start and looked as if we might threaten out wide but Gala covered well and that was that, a 18 - 17 win for Jed.

Coach Calum Brown said "it was a decent result especially when you realise that it's the first time that we have won at Gala in ten years but it's a bit frustrating that we did not kill the game off especially as we had 30 minutes to score a bonus try and had all the ball in the first half". He singled out James Henderson who was back to his best after missing a big chunk of last year "as being immense as the main ball carrier". He was backed up by Gary Holborn "who thoroughly deserved his try after his driving around the ruck area". Donald Grieve and Robert Ferguson also had good games.

You can see another report and highlights here. http://www.bordersrugby.net/galatv.htm#

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6th Sept                                               Jed-Forest 13 - 3 Biggar

Jed bounced back from last weeks loss at Dundee with a 13 - 3 defeat of Biggar at a rain soaked Riverside. Jed started playing towards the town and had the advantage of the wind and that certainly helped us pile plenty of pressure on the Biggar line. Donald Grieve kicked an early penalty and Jed were further boosted when the big Biggar 2nd row was sent off for an alleged head but on Jamie McCraw, this looked harsh  though as Jamie was even unsure as to what had happened.

Biggar were being constantly warned for infringing in the rucks and went down to 13 men as they had another player sin binned. Jed should have had more points but a missed penalty and the conditions didn't help. Ross Goodfellow did get a try from a pushover scrum wide right and Donald kicked a brilliant conversion, he also kicked another penalty to give us a 13 - 0 half time lead.

Biggar scored the only second half points from a penalty and Jed will be disappointed with only 13 points to show from playing against 14 men for most of the game. Chris Laidlaw was replaced with 10 minutes to go with a knock to the hip but he should be ok to face Gala next week.

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30th Aug                                              Dundee HSFP 25-16 Jed-Forest

A very disappointing start to the League campaign on Saturday at Mayfield, it has never been a happy hunting ground for Jed in the past and it was certainly the case again this season. Jed never had enough possession of the ball and played the majority of the match with 14 men and the home side were continually on the front foot as Jed struggled physically to match them in the contact area.

The match was around 10 minutes in when the Dundee centre broke through and looked to have touched down only for the play to be brought back for a penalty to Jed after the linesman spotted the Dundee fullback pulling back Simon Lightbody.

Dundee eventually opened with a penalty from a ruck infringement and then got the first try of the day after Hill took too long to clear in his 22 allowing the Dundee centre Lemon to charge down and score for an 8-0 lead. This was countered by a penalty from Chris Laidlaw after an earlier miss, he also scraped a drop goal from close range after a rare spell of Jed pressure. However Jed gave away more silly points when Greg Walker got caught in possession at the back and held on in the tackle and then Gary Holborn was sin-binned at a ruck before half-time allowing Dundee to stretch away to a 14-6 interval lead.

After half time Jed had some better intensity to their play but were still struggling at the lineout. Dundee were back in Jed territory and looked to have turned them over when the referee stopped play and after discussion with his assistant ( and the Dundee coach Ian Rankin who was a long way from his technical area putting in his opinion) he produced a red card for Scott Laidlaw for rucking an opponents head.

Despite this huge setback it was Jed who were next on the scoreboard as substitute Rob Ferguson forced his way over after some better attacking from Jed. It was now 14-11 and Jed were right back in it. However poor discipline allowed Dundee to hit back with an immediate penalty and when the restart went out on the full, Dundee exploited the new laws and Jeds’ lack of numbers from the resultant scrum move they eventually scored their second try. Another penalty stretched to 25-11 and it looked ominous as Jed looked to play second fiddle in every aspect but still had the tenacity to launch some late attacks and with Dundee having one of their players carded late on Jed were able to score from a close range scrum with Donald Grieve doing just enough to get the ball over the line, the same player attempted to convert for a losing bonus but was off target as Laidlaw had been earlier with a couple of difficult kicking chances.

Not many good individual performances and certainly some very poor ones as well and some areas of play that will certainly have to improve if Jed are to seriously threaten this season. New coach Cliff Livingston was very disappointed in the way the points were conceded so easily from Jed mistakes in most occasions and felt Dundee were not made to work hard enough to earn their points.