Peter Laverie, the Ayr coach, will not give up his ambition of winning the Premiership title until his side are mathematically out of the running, even though he has started to consider qualification in the British and Irish Cup as a more attainable aim.
That view was framed by a 17-5 home defeat by Heriot's on Saturday, a result which was informed by inefficient play at the breakdown. It was that which stung most for Laverie.
"One of our goals has always been to finish in that top-four and we will keep on working to achieve that," said the Ayr coach. "It was a disappointing performance against Heriot's. They played well but we were not up to scratch in the breakdown contest, where we were second best.
"In terms of the competition as a whole, Gala have put themselves in a strong position. However, they still have a couple of tricky fixtures to negotiate and I am sure Melrose will have something to say when they face each other in January. As far as we are concerned, we have a lot of work to do in preparation for our B&I Cup match with Ulster."
Max Nimmo was a formidable threat to Ayr too, with the playing scoring both tries for the Edinburgh side. They were converted by Graham Wilson, who also slotted a penalty. Ayr's somewhat muted reply came from Grant Anderson.
There was a much greater fuss to be made about Joe Helps as he emerged as Melrose's cardinal threat as they snuffed out Hawick 36-11 in a fast-flowing derby at the Greenyards. The midfielder scored a crucial try and six kicks to register a haul of 21 points.
The most important score was claimed in the final seconds by Damien Hoyland, though, as it made sure of the bonus. Wullie Blacklock went over for the only Hawick try.
A last-gasp drop-goal by James Semple clinched a dramatic 40-39 success for Currie at the expense of Edinburgh Accies, meanwhile. The hosts had appeared to be on course for a maximum haul of points - until the youngster found the target with the last kick of the contest.
There was an element of drama for Stirling County too, as they eased their relegation fears with a 14-10 home win over Aberdeen GR. That took a late charge to earn the victory, as Ross Murray grabbed the decisive try in the final minute.
County's earlier effort came from Kris Burney, while Brian Archibald and Stuart Edwards shared the goal points.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article