Highland and Gordonians brought down the curtain on their home fixtures for the season leaving them with away trips to Biggar and Whitecraigs next week before ending their respective campaigns.
For Highland it was an opportunity to close in on a cherished fifth place in National League 1, while for the Aberdeen side it was a chance to put behind them the pain of being relegated from National League 2 this season.
A 41-20 a third consecutive win for the Inverness side kept them on track for their sought after high finish at the expense of bottom side Boroughmuir who belied their lowly position, presuming to take a 14-7 lead into the second half.
Thereafter it was pretty much all Highland who secured the win after running in four quick tries, attributed to Calum Carson, Andy Kellock, Rory Cross and Seamus Ross, three of which were converted by stand-off Scott Fraser to add to the earlier touchdowns of Sean Blair and Craig Findlater to which Fraser add the extras.
Head coach Davie Carson was happy with the overall performance of Highland but said: “Once again our ball retention was poor in patches but when we were going forward we were good.
“Our front row of Stevie Murray, Kevin Brown and Johnny Milton were outstanding, even if they didn’t always please the referee.
“But it’s a win in what has been a really tough season one way of the other.”
The Canal Park sign off their season on Saturday with a testing trip to Biggar who are still in the frame for a top three finish in arguably the toughest league in the country.
Gordonians end home campaign with late victory
Gordonians gave their success-starved supporters something to cheer about after a rousing 34-28 win at Countesswells where an equally committed Falkirk made a huge contribution to a highly entertaining game.
The Aberdeen side looked to be heading for another disappointment, only to rally in the final minute to overhaul a 28-27 deficit to snatch a memorable win on which they will look to build when they travel to Whitecraigs, the other relegated team in the division.
Back to back wins would set up this young Countesswells side for a crack at bouncing straight back after the devastating blow of dropping down a division.
For player-president Matthew Brechin it was a question of keeping their self-belief.
He said: “We have the ability. We now have to demonstrate our stick ability. It’s our intention to come back first time round.”
Angus Cousin, scored the late winner, while others on the Gordonians score sheet were captain Danny Usugo with a brace of tries, Angus Winning, Struan Robertson, and Charlie Wall with touchdowns of their own.
Sean Mill kicked two conversions including the last-minute winner.