Glasgow add to Borders' misery

Glasgow 26 The Borders 25

The Borders’ agony at the foot of the Celtic League continued when previously dead-eye kicker Gareth Morton lost his touch in the closing stages while home full back Stuart Moffat was in the sin bin.

Morton missed three penalties and any one would have given his side victory.

Relieved home coach Hugh Campbell said: “I was happy to hear the final whistle. We gave away far too many penalties.”

An eventful, though patternless, first half opened with a batch of penalties as referee Paul Adams gave an immediate idea of how often he would blow his whistle.

Borders took the lead with a successful effort from Morton in the second minute. Glasgow responded and Dan Parks put over a long strike.

Three minutes later referee Adams spotted an offence right on the halfway line and Morton struck it home.

Glasgow had been the more cohesive and scored the night’s opening try in 14 minutes. Andy Wilson made ground on the right before the ball was spun across field for Sean Lamont’s try which Parks converted.

Five minutes later home scrum-half Kenny Sinclair watched as Tony Walker grabbed the ball at a line-out and, when Glasgow offended at the subsequent ruck, Morton edged Borders into a 10-9 lead.

Things got worse for Glasgow when Lamont was sin-binned and Borders’ game came together.

Parks had a clearing kick charged down and from the resulting line-out Morton came into the line to touch down under the bar and convert.

However, Glasgow had pulled the score back to 16-16 by the interval thanks to two more Parks penalties, with Walker sin-binned at the second.

Borders began the second half brightly but could only claim a Clark Laidlaw drop goal before Glasgow scored their second try.

The Borders scrum was twisted close to their line and Roly Reid picked up and drove over for Parks to convert.

Morton and Parks then exchanged kicks before Morton’s final agony.