Livingston 16 - 11 Preston Lodge

Livingston welcomed old friends Preston Lodge to Almond Park on saturday for what was already billed as Scotland top club fixture of the weekend with both teams coming into the fixture unbeaten and Looking to secure top spot in East Division 1. The billing had brought out a large and expectant crowd of over 400+ which was a credit to both clubs.

With the conditions good and Preston Lodge kicked off with a slight breeze at their back and from the first second the crowd could see what the match meant to both sets of players with some ferocious exchanges. Unlike many other matches this season Livi started brightly securing good ruck ball and moving it across the back line with good precision. PL's defence was equal to it and the attack came to nothing , This allowed PL to build an attack of their own and 4 minutes in they took the lead after livi were penalised at a ruck and Andrew Clark hit a nice kick to break the deadlock and it was 3-0 to PL.

PL pressed again from the kick off with some good running from their impressive pack but Livi defended well.
Livi responded well , their line out was functioning fantastically well with Andy Adam and Stephen Hay securing nice ball, after recycling it well Talisman Scrum Half Bruton opened up the blindside for Jamie King to cross in the corner , Edwards hit the conversation to bring the score to 7-3. Livi were in the ascendancy and 2 minutes later after another strong attack they were awarded a penalty which Edwards slotted home to extend the lead to 10-3. Infringements were costing PL dear and after working again into the 22 a penalty by PL no 8 Paul Voy allowed Edwards another opportunity which he duly slotted to bring the Score to 13-3.

As both teams showed throughout neither would give up and after this set back of losing 13 points in as many minutes PL pushed into the Livi 22 , From a line out they put together a terrific rolling maul which they drove across the Livi whitewash , everyone in the ground thought the ball had been grounded , everyone apart from the crucial one , as the referee had been unsighted and Livi got off the hook. This understandably frustrated the PL team and indiscipline allowed Livi to clear their lines easily , for the reminder of the Half Livi pushed into the PL half but could not brake down the away defence, The passion that both teams were playing with boiled over just before the half time whistle as a skirmish led to each team having a player yellow carded.

Livingston started the second half with the same pace and momentum as they finished the first and special mention must go to centre pairing Scobie and McMahon who were running great lines and using the ball well. After some good work Livi won a penalty 45 metres out and Bolan decided to have a crack however he pushed it wide. However not too long after PL were penalised for lying offside and Edwards extended the lead to 16-3 , This proved to be a turning point in the game as PL knew they needed to bring themselves back into the game and from the restart, they meant business, pushing deep into the home 22. Livi tried too hard to win the ball back and were penalised but Clark’s kick was just wide.

All of the momentum now lay with PL and they were the only side who looked likely to score as the play was becoming looser and Livi were being punished with some strong kick return and open play running. One of the kick returns lead to the PL breakthrough and after picking up the ball deep in their own half their strong running centre Kinross ran 40 metres and then offloaded to Brash who crossed to bring the score to 16-8

Livingston were now picking up far to many penalties from the referee as they struggled to win the ball after being penalised for an offside. and some backchat Clark slotted a 25 metre shot at goal and the score was now 16-11.

The last 10 minutes was some of the most exciting rugby seen at Almond Park for many a year and play was spent almost entirely in the Livi 22 and much of it very near the try line, PL tried their best to break the Livi defence and although conceding several penalties Livi's Pink Wall stood firm and playing with some unbelievable heart and cheered on by a vocal livi support the pressure was eased when replacement prop Marius Tamosaitis clamped onto the ball at a ruck just right of the posts. And although the clearance kicked missed touch seconds later Craig Bolan ran out and when The final whistle came a cheer rang out not heard for a long time at Almond Park.

This was a fantastic game of Club rugby with great grit and determination shown by both sides and a credit to both clubs , but their always has to be a winner and the Livi support where glad on this occasion that it was them and inflicting a defeat on a team that had not been beaten since November 2010 is credit in itself. One thing is for sure after this display any supporter of Rugby would be mad to miss the reverse when the boys travel to Pennypitt.