Derby Blues for PL at the Hands of Lasswade

This is the closest there is to a local derby for both teams in National League Division 2 and a fixture backlog prompted the rearrangement of this fixture to be played under the lights at The Pennypit last Wednesday evening. It was the visitors however who would prove the stronger of the two sides and maintain their challenge for promotion near the top of the league.

The first eight minutes saw a flurry of scoring as first Lasswade’s forward power allowed a No.8 pick up leading to a try near the posts and good passing through their backs proved too strong for PL’s midfield defence which led to a second converted try. Dougie Thomson managed to reply with a nice strike for a penalty from 28m to make the score 3-14.
Lasswade would win their try bonus point before the end of the half with two more converted tries making the half time score 3-28.

The second half was a very different affair as far as the scoreboard was concerned and in fact ended up with each side scoring only one unconverted try each.
PL’s effort came from the industrious and lion-hearted John Burns who finished off a clever move through the backs which featured good passing between Jonathan Brash and Gary Stewart. The wily scrum half then picked up the ball as it came out of the ruck near the try line and he was able to dive over the top for an opportunist score.
The scoring was completed only eight minutes into the half when Lasswade’s superior forward power engineered a pushover try to make the score 8-33 which is how it would remain until the end.

PL showed some good passages of play and at times some excellent defence but the early onslaught had proved too much and gave the visitors their comfortable victory.

Preston Lodge team:
S Dixon, J Burns, D Thomson, J Brash, C Guiney, C Blair, JJ van Vuuren,
D Wardell, N Marsh, C McLean, T Ryan, A Blair, B Cowan, R Todd, E Thayne.
Replacements:
G Stewart, B Stewart, G Henderson (All Used)