The club all-but secured their status in next seasons Premier Division Three with a losing bonus point in the Granite City, and Craig was pleased to have reached that target.

He said: "We're pleased to have reached our main target of getting into Premier Three, but our form has dipped recently and we've found wins hard to come by.

"We struggled in the first half to get any clean ball as they (Aberdeenshire) caused us problems up front.

"We recovered well and scored two very good tries through Kyle (Adams) and Sax (James Ferguson).

"We made too many mistakes with the ball in hand, and that cost us dear."

The visiting Reds gave a last outing of the year to Nick Bell at scrum-half, before he departs for London, while Stuart Miller replaced the injured Ewan Chalmers, moving Kyle Adams back to the wing.

In the pack, Kenny Harper's impressive showing against Musselburgh earned him a starting berth at tighthead, while on the bench there was a first appearance of the season for Kyle Munro following his return from long-term injury.

The home side started the match well, and dominated up front for large spells in the first half.

The scores were level going into the break, following two tries apiece - the Reds scores by Adams and Ferguson coming after concerted pressure on the Aberdeenshire defence, and elusive running by the young backs.

The home side struck right on half-time, though, and took the lead going in at the interval. A score which head coach Craig described as "disasterous".

The second period saw a third try in as two games for Calum Cockburn, the big winger forcing his way over the line after good work by the Haddington pack.

Nick Bell's conversion reduced the arrears in what was the only score of an evenly-fought second half.

A disappointing result for the Reds' scrum-half to sign off on, but he travels to London safe in the knowledge that Premier Three status is all-but secure.