Jubilant Marr see out tight encounter
In a tight and evenly balanced contest between the top two teams it was a brilliant Conor Bickerstaff try from 40 metres to follow the forwards’ power score landed by William ‘ Wilko’ Farquhar and the boot of Colin Sturgeon that gave Marr the slight advantage and finally the winning points.
A large crowd on the touchline were on the kept on their toes throughout the captivating match.
Marr opened the scoring within five minutes after early pressure gained a penalty that Colin Sturgeon converted.
Jed Forest quickly responded and levelled the score with a converted penalty.
Marr gained an advantage on 20 minutes as a late tackle on Bickerstaff was penalised with Jed’s lock John Skzudro being sent to the sin bin. Sturgeon extended the lead with two penalties. Just before half- time Jed Forest took the lead as they made the first try score as Callum Young switched wings to the left and stretched Marr’s defence to score in the corner. A successful conversion followed.
At the start of the second half Jed Forest extended their lead with another penalty conversion. Marr spent most of the rest of the third quarter hammering away at Jed’s defence but it held firm until just before the hour mark when a driving maul from a close range lineout resulted in Farquhar grounding the ball for Marr’s opening try.
Three minutes later, Sturgeon landed a further penalty to extend Marr’s lead. The final quarter was played at an electric pace as both sides raised their tempo trying to make the decisive blow.
On 64 minutes Jed Forest regained the lead with their second converted try. Four minutes later Marr struck home the winning blow with a converted try scored by Bickerstaff. Under pressure, Jed had kicked long to clear their line. Jack Scott fielded the ball and set up the counterattack. As he was tackled just inside Jed’s half he offloaded to Bickerstaff, who jinked and weaved his way 40 metres through the Jed defence to score.
Marr’s points from the win see them stay top. With only five points separating the top five clubs and nine matches left, this remains one of the closest contests ever. Next Saturday will be telling as the top four clubs play each other.
Fixtures ( Sat, Dec 8): 1s: Musselburgh A; 2s: Stirling County H; 3s: Glasgow Accies 2s A.