Livingston 24 Lasswade 25

Livingston won promotion to Championship B after losing only three games last season, two in the League and one in the Cup Final against Marr. The question for them was whether they could maintain that momentum.

Bernie Hennessey has stepped up to Head Coach for Lasswade but intends to still play a bit as well. Mark Billingham has returned as Captain after a two year break and will be looking to improve on Lasswade’s mid table finish the past two seasons. The spaces left by Gavin Brown, Richard Borthwick and Jamie Blackwood will all be filled from within the Club and Aaron Thomas and Findlay Talbat got their first taste of senior rugby today.

Livi kicked off in the warm sunshine against the gentlest of breezes and had all the territory for the first five minutes and took the lead with a penalty when Lasswade strayed offside,

Played continued to be weighted towards the visitors’ end but organised defence and effective tackling kept the line secure.

Even though significantly outweighed up front, Lasswade’s set scrimmage remained steady. Just into the second quarter it provided the platform for Clark to dart down the blind side, put in a trademark chip and regather and spin through the last defenders into the corner.

The visitors piled on the pressure and just six minutes later, Clark fainted right from a scrum on the home twenty-two before passing back to Hennessey who found a hole and had Wilson inside on his shoulder to finish under the posts for Hennessey to add the extra points.

Using mostly their forwards, Livingston rebounded into the Lasswade half but again could not break the Midlothian defence. When threatening the visitors’ line, it was Lasswade’s Grant who stole from an advancing maul and popped to Smith who broke the first tackles to take the ball to half way before offloading to Wilson who raced down the touchline into the corner and staked his claim as Lasswade’s man of the match. Hennessey moved the score to 19-3.

Livingston fought back and with a minute left in the half their burly No 8, Johnson, punched his way into the corner and a touchline conversion from Douglas made it 7 points.

Into stoppage time Livi were not finished and another visitors’ offside let Douglas make the half time score 19-13.

Swinging the ball wide at every opportunity, Lasswade extended the lead back to nine points 10 minutes into the second half but then the pendulum swung towards the hosts. Offside decisions either side of the hour allowed Douglas to claw back six points and shortly after he burst through the Hawthornden line into the corner.

Two points ahead and with their tails up, Livi looked to be under the posts again but the referee spotted a knock on and called them back.

The last fifteen minutes were understandably tense for all with the hosts having slightly the upper hand,

Already one minute into stoppage time, Lasswade put together a desperate sally into the home 22. Signalling a penalty for not rolling away the ref allowed advantage and the visitors worked the “free ball” out to the centre where Hennessey snapped a low but accurate drop goal to grab back the lead by one point,

A nail biting two minutes later a Livi attack ended with a knock on and no-side was greeted with relief and jubilation by the Midlothian players and support.

A win is a win whether it’s by one point or twenty and this gives Lasswade confidence for their first home fixture this Saturday when Aberdeenshire travel to Hawthornden having just put Hawick YM to the sword 39-15 at home. Kick-off 3pm.