The hosts took a 7th minute lead through Walker however a lengthy delay for a head knock disrupted Dalkeith and it was Stuart Thomson's side who responded to the stoppage with a greater sense of urgency and Stu Hagen narrowed the scoreline with a penalty.

Hagen added further extras when he converted tries from Casper Jones and Craig Wishart to send Broughton in 13-17 ahead at the break.

Scott Rogers breached the whitewash earlier in the second half to set the tone before Hagen split the uprights with another penalty.

Wishart doubled his tally from close range to seal the bonus point and with the hosts numerically disadvantaged due to a transgression, Robbie Robertson's long distance run earned the youngster a score of his own.

Dalkeith pressed in a final bid to reduce the deficit however a resilient Broughton defence stood firm to record a second half clean sheet and it was Jones who put the cherry on top with his second and his side's sixth score of the afternoon

Full Time: Dalkeith 13-44 Broughton

The victory sets up a mouth-watering clash next weekend when fellow title challengers Portobello head to Wardie.

An ebullient Head Coach said after the game, "Needless to say I'm delighted at the nature of the performance and win today however we are once again up against first class opposition in Porty next week.

"Today though, we had some big players missing through injury and unavailability however we have laid down another marker in what looks like one of the toughest East Division 2 campaigns yet.

"Despite being well points ahead on the scoreboard near the end, Dalkeith were knocking on our door for scores however I was proud of the superlative defensive effort at the end, with lads putting their bodies on the line as if every attempt was a last gasp match winning tackle."