The home side, bolstered by the return of Euan Herkes and Craig Harrison following last week's defeat to Howe of Fife, scored two tries through Colin Stuart and a wonderful effort from James Ferguson.

There was also a recall to stand-off for Nick Bell, with Ferguson reverting to full-back and Callum Cockburn back onto the wing. Bell's contributions off the kicking tee proved invaluable, adding four penalties and a conversion to the hosts' total.

The visitors performed resiliantly throughout and may feel hard done by to only have left with a losing bonus points. They remained right in contention until Stuart's try five minutes from time sealed a second home victory of the season.

However, it was Ferguson's score that gave the Neilson Park faithful the biggest cheer of the day. A superb break from replacement Mark Morrison allowed Isaiah Mamea to support and his no-look offload sent Ferguson away. The versatile back cut loose of a valiant covering tackle to score.

Even coach Bryan Craig was quick to praise the initial work of Morrison. He said: "Mark made a great impact off the bench for us and it was his bullocking run fro a kick-off that set up the try for Sax (Ferguson) with support from Ice (Mamea)".

There was also some gutsy defending from the hosts, with Mamea and in particular Alex Spence, the former Scotland under-20s international, making some crunching hits to keep the visitors at bay.

Another home win sets the Reds up nicely for next week's local derby with Musselburgh at Neilson Park (kick-off 3pm).