PL rack up 11 tries as they storm into the quarter-finals
Murrayfield Wanderers 12 Preston Lodge 71
ELEVEN tries helped Preston Lodge to a commanding win to secure a place in the quarter-finals of the National League Cup.
The Prestonpans side now face Falkirk in the last eight of the competition next Saturday (April 6).
The visitors got off to an ideal start in the game, which was played in the shadows of Scottish Gas Murrayfield.
An early penalty saw the ball sent to the corner. The resulting drive saw James Johnstone dot the ball down from the back of the maul and Fraser Falgate added the points with the conversion.
To the hosts’ credit, they bounced back to level the scores within a matter of minutes with a try and conversion of their own.
However, PL had too much for their opposition, who play in National League Division Four – a tier below Preston Lodge.
Murrayfield were shown a yellow card and the visitors quickly made them pay.
A promptly taken penalty saw the ball worked to Josh O’brien and he dived over the line, with Falgate again scoring the conversion.
The third try arrived on 25 minutes and it was Johnstone again getting on the scoresheet. This time, a series of strong carries saw PL gain territory and Johnstone got through the remaining defenders to score. Falgate continued his impressive form with the boot to stretch the lead to 21-7.
A penalty try three minutes later extended that gap to 21 points as PL started to look uncatchable.
Harris Weir was the next to score a try after excellent play out wide, before Murrayfield managed to claw some points back with a try of
their own on 36 minutes.
Fittingly, Preston Lodge would round the scoring off with a try just before the half-time interval. Dale Gordon found Falgate, who ran the ball home from fully 30 metres out.
A half-time lead of 40-12 meant that it would take something special from the hosts to overhaul Preston Lodge.
The visitors refused to take their foot off the accelerator, though, as they pushed for more points.
Only two minutes of the second half had been played when they clocked up their seventh try of the afternoon. Finlay Hughes collected
the ball from Dylan Campbell and touched down, Falgate adding the extra points with the conversion.
Three minutes later and PL were celebrating again as the skipper Jack Gordon touched down. Nathan Ross made up a lot of ground with a strong carry before the ball was worked to Gordon. Falgate was again on target with the conversion as PL moved to 54-12 ahead.
And they were not finished there as, within 60 seconds, they scored try number nine.
Jack Pollard finished off an impressive team move under the posts and Falgate kicked the extra points.
Falgate quickly scored another try in the corner to ensure that the visitors had scored four tries within the opening 10 minutes of the second half.
The final score of the day came with just 10 minutes left to play. Johnstone found Hughes, who beat a couple of defenders to touch down in the corner and wrap up the scoring.
The National League Division Three champions know they will face either Boroughmuir or Newton Stewart if they come through their game with Falkirk, who sit third in National League Division Two.