Lasswade beat Strathmore to maintain 100 per cent National League 3 record

Darren Tiffney on the way to the first of his four tries against Strathmore (pic: Dean Gibb)

It was their eighth straight win since the start of the season and moved them eight points clear of closest challengers West of Scotland. Anything other than a home win against third bottom Strathmore would have been a seismic shock and in the event the only surprise turned out to be the relatively modest winning margin which was in part due to Strathmore’s unwillingness to just give up.

In spite of 36 hours of near continuous rain the pitch was soft but nowhere near waterlogged and about an hour before kick-off the rain clouds gave way to patchy sunshine with a light breeze - from Rosewell of course.

Strathmore kicked off with the breeze at their back but soon found themselves defending in their 22.

With 10 minutes gone Lasswade turned to their trademark short range line out, catch and drive to the line with Darren Tiffney in possession to claim the try.

Two almost identical scenarios before the half hour and another early in the second half brought up the bonus try and with all four to his name, Tiffney rocketed to the top of the season’s try scorers list.

Strathmore did get one brief glimmer of hope in the first half. The restart kick from the hosts’ third try enabled a rare visit to the home 22 where Beaton charged down an attempted clearance and recovered it for an unobstructed run to the posts and an easy conversion.

In the second period, five minutes after Tiffney’s fourth try, Kelly secured Strathmore’s goal line drop-out, Cook carried it further and offloaded to Humphries who charged past the remaining defenders to touch down beside the posts.

The sixth and what proved to be the final score came on the hour when Robertson tapped a five-metre penalty and forced his way over. Matt Smith converted to give himself a perfect 100 per cent record for the afternoon.

Four tries was not enough for Tiffney to win Player of the Match which went instead to Lucas Orsi.

This Saturday the return fixtures start when Greenock Wanderers – beaten by Lasswade on the opening day – travel to Hawthornden, kick- off 2pm.