Glasgow bounce back to claim revenge over rivals

Glasgow 25 Edinburgh 20

Glasgow bounced back to grab revenge over their oldest rivals with a vastly-improved display in their Magners League clash at Firhill.

The Warriors had been in the doldrums after their December 26 bashing at the hands of the Gunners.

But they produced a brave retort on their own turf to jump back into the top three of the title tussle.

They may not have looked capable of cancelling out the 33-point deficit in the aggregate battle for the inter-city bragging rights.

But they could not disguise their delight at the result when the final whistle sounded.

Glasgow looked the livelier side during the opening exchanges – only to find themselves adrift after 10 minutes thanks to a woefully soft try.

Recalled Gunners lock Matt Mustchin took the ball into the danger zone and the chance appeared to have been lost when the ball went loose.

But alert prop Geoff Cross reacted first to scoop it up and trundle over under the crossbar without any defender laying a finger on him.

Phil Godman landed the simple conversion to give the visitors the ideal cushion, however the wounded Warriors hit back in powerful fashion to narrow the gap to a single point.

Dan Parks got them off the mark with a penalty straight from the restart – then repeated the feat in the 13th minute when Allan Jacobsen was yellow-carded by English referee Rob Debney for a ruck offence.

Parks surged back into the limelight midway through the half to claim an opportunist drop goal which edged the hosts in front.

To add to the frustration of the capital troops, Godman sent a penalty wide almost immediately afterwards.

Glasgow’s hopes suffered a double setback in the build-up to the interval.

First, international hooker Fergus Thomson was forced off with a rib problem - then lock Tim Barker was removed on a stretcher in the wake of a collision with team-mate Moray Low.

But they shook off the effects of the reshuffle to create an excellent try in stoppage time.

Scrum-half Sam Pinder made the initial break before Low battled to within a couple of paces of the target.

Bernie Stortoni acted as makeshift number nine as Parks fed Morrison who left the Edinburgh markers rooted en route to reaching the line in spite of Ally Hogg’s challenge.

Parks gleefully banged over the kick – and added another slick drop-goal to stretch the margin to 12 points.

Edinburgh were far from out of it, however, and they had the better of the fortunes after the restart.

Parks was wayward with two penalty efforts – while Godman was spot-on at the other end to give his team-mates fresh hope.

And Godman struck again in the 55th minute to reduce the leeway to just six points and throw the contest back into the melting pot.

Coaches Sean Lineen and Andy Robinson made wholesale substitutions as the action entered the decisive phase.

And it was Glasgow who snatched the crucial next score when Parks rediscovered his range when Pinder was the victim of an offside challenge by Jim Hamilton.

Marksman Parks was replaced by young star Ruaridh Jackson – and the rookie underlined his cool disposition by clipping over a penalty less than two minutes later.

Gunners had the last word, however, as Ben Cairns scooted over for their second touchdown to salvage a consolation bonus point – substitute David Blair adding the goal.