Heavy overnight rain preceded the match and although the pitch was in good condition for this derby match light rain fell shortly before the kick off to make the ball wet and handling looked difficult all afternoon. The big crowd hoped it would stay dry.

Dave Bain was called off shore mid week so Kyle Hamilton moved to the left wing with Callum Mark coming into the centres and Danny Waldman replacing him on the bench.

Adam McNair won the toss and chose to play up the hill. Dunbar kicked off and were immediately on the attack and set up camp in the North Berwick 22 and were to stay there for most of the first half. The visitors had certainly not come just to make up the numbers and their forwards were working hard to provide Jamie Peters and his backs with good possession.

The home defence was good but the defensive kicking was not and aligned with that a line out that didn’t function well just allowed Dunbar to continue the attacks. Peters missed a penalty in eleven minutes but was successful in the fifteenth to take the lead. The home support hoped that would act as a wake up call but from another poor defensive kick Dunbar spun the ball left and full back Gary Peters had an easy run to score. Jamie Peters was unsuccessful with the conversion.

Injuries disrupted the home side with No 8 Ben Inglis retiring early in the first half and shortly after being joined on the touchline by Ted Knight. With two of the back row off, Jamie Armstrong and Scott Purvis joined the match with Purvis going to hooker and Grant Black moving to the flank.

Dunbar’s Keith Courtney incurred the wrath of Referee Iain Clark and was yellow carded, this was in North Berwick’s favour as he was a key line out man for the visitors.

On the thirty minute mark, Elms was replaced by Waldman and there was more reshuffling with Connor Johnson moving to the left wing and Hamilton coming into partner Mark in the centre.

Although North Berwick did manage the occasional visit to the Dunbar half, the score of 0 – 8 at half time was a fair reflection of the play.

Grant Craig replaced Liam West at stand off for the second half but an injury to 2nd Row Iain Dove meant further disruption to the home side and although Knight returned it was clear that his knee injury was too much for him to continue and Inglis returned.

Dunbar were to score again five minutes into the half and it was from a forward drive after a line out close to the home line. Peters kicked an excellent conversion to increase their lead.

There was suddenly some urgency from North Berwick and Craig kicked a penalty in the tenth minute to open the account for North Berwick. Craig was making a difference and with a flat line of attack was bringing Mark, Waldman and Hamilton into the game. This was all helped by Jamie Peters spending ten minutes in the bin for a trip as North Berwick were on a break out.

With ten minutes to go and after some good pressure, Johnson squeezed over in the corner and this was shortly followed by a powerful run by Inglis to score again. Unfortunately Craig missed both conversions but the gap was down to two points.

Craig was to miss a penalty close to the end and whilst it was not an easy one had he been successful, North Berwick would have stolen the points.

In summary, North Berwick could have won the match and even taking the injury disruptions into account, this was still an off day for North Berwick and the visitors deserved the win on overall territory.

Next week sees a road trip to Lanholm who were successful at Duns so another tough contest beckons.