Mayfield men do battle with GHK over relegation

Dundee Rugby resume their battle to stay in National One for next season when they take on GHA tomorrow.

The Mayfield men head into 2024 and the last few matches of the league campaign sitting ninth in the table and just one point above GHK who are in the relegation spot.

Both the bottom two have four matches left and with eighth-placed Gala 15 points ahead of Dundee it is now a straight shootout between them and GHK to see who goes down.

Dundee’s last fourgame stretch starts at home against sixthplaced GHA and when Dundee played them earlier in the season in Glasgow they were beaten 27-10.

They had a tough run of results leading into Christmas too, so Dundee head coach Alan Brown will hope this is a fresh start for his charges.

GHK are taking on third-placed Highland.

In National Two, Kirkcaldy are 10 points clear of the relegation spot but will still want another couple of positive results to make sure they are safe.

They are seventh and at home to eighthplaced Stirling County this weekend.

When the sides met at Bridgehaugh earlier in the campaign, County won 49-26 and Kirkcaldy know their defence will have to be better this time around.

“We are back to it,” said Kirkcaldy head coach Quintan Sanft, who saw his side win crucially 41-29 at Aberdeen Grammar in the last game before Christmas. “This weekend gives us a great opportunity to get another win and pull away from the bottomof-the-table fight.”

The bottom two in the table are Berwick and Aberdeen Grammar and they are meeting at Scremerston.

Howe of Fife had a positive win at Allan Glen’s last week and will continue their bid for a top-three finish in National Three with a home match against Boroughmuir.

The Edinburgh outfit travel to Cupar sixth in the table and when they met on a Friday night at Meggetland earlier in the season the Howe won a thriller 41-36.

Dunfermline are in sixth place in National Four and still have their eyes on a top-four finish. They have six games left and the first of those is this weekend at home to third-placed Whitecraigs.

“We are excited to be back after the festive break,” Dunfermline head coach Gavin Emerson said.

“The team are feeling confident about the weekend’s game as we know what we need to do to get the win after falling short in late November (Whitecraigs won 46-37).”

Eighth-placed Perthshire take on fifthplaced Strathmore while the StewartryRoss High match has been postponed as a mark of respect for the latter team’s Aiden Hoenigmann who died recently aged just 27.

Kinross and Howe Crusaders meet in Caledonia One’s North Conference this evening, but the big game is tomorrow when Panmure and Dundee Rugby’s second team meet to decide who finishes top.

Alan Brown.