Hamilton 29

Peebles 31

Allan Beveridge

at Bent Road

IT was a cool and calm Donald Anderson who grabbed the ball in the 88th minute at Bent Road to offer to take the match-deciding kick.

And kick it he did to give Peebles a rightful win, and keep them at the top of the table.

This was a game similar to one two seasons ago when Peebles found themselves in a strong lead only to be pinned back and overtaken by the home team.

But this time the 29-28 injury time lead fr Hamilton was extinguished by the boot of Anderson.

The game started and finished in summer conditions with Peebles playing with a fairly strong breeze at their backs.

It was a fairly uninspiring opening quarter of an hour.

However a Roddy Guiney interception did take play to the home try line before he was brought to ground.

Greg Raeburn opted to kick the resultant penalty to touch.

It was the right decision as from the ruck that ensued David Wills collected to dive over for the opening try.

Raeburn slotted the conversion for a 7-0 lead.

Hamilton hit back immediately after Peebles dropped a pass in defence and Number Eight Adams pounced on the loose ball to go over for the try.

Peebles quickly made amends with Stuart Hunter out-jumping Hamilton's second row player to collect the kick off.

Guiney took the off-load to set up a ruck, and Murray Brown swooped to charge over.

Raeburn made it 5-14 with the conversion.

A 25th minute yellow card for Hamilton's full back gave the Pees a further advantage.

But the visitors were unable to add to their score during the 10 minutes he was in the bin.

And just before half time a penalty closed the gap to 8-14.

There was still time for Peebles to respond with Raeburn slicing through the defence to score beneath the posts.

The conversion made it 8-21.

Peebles extended their lead further at the start of the second half with Anderson collecting Murray Brown's pass to touch down next to the posts.

The bonus-point try was again converted.

Against the wind, the second half was to prove much more difficult for Peebles.

Hamilton began to exert pressure and it led to scrum-half Turnbull scrambling over for a try.

McLeish made it 15-28 with the extras.

Worse was to follow as Raeburn was yellow-carded for what the referee decided was a deliberate knock on.

During his spell in the bin Turnbull scored again for the hosts.

This time Wilson added the conversion.

Just moments after Raeburn had returned to the park he was deemed to have deliberately knocked on again - and two yellow cards make a red.

Ryan McConnell was also yellow carded in the 65th leaving Peebles with only 13 players.

Despite some determined defending Hamilton took the lead in the second minute of stoppage time with the pack forcing its way over the line.

The conversion gave them a one-point lead.

With all eyes on the referee Peebles continued to push their way towards the Hamilton line as the seconds ticked down.

In the 88th minute an infringement gave Anderson the opportunity to have the last word.

It turned out to be a well earned five points.

This weekend Falkirk are the visitors to The Gytes.

It appears that Raeburn will be suspended for the clash, although confirmation has still to come through from Murrayfield.