At the start of the season, the Scotland on Sunday newspaper predicted that Selkirk would finish at "the ugly end" of the league table.

Nearly three months later, captain Neil Darling and his players have won eight of the 11 games played and amassed 35 league points in the process.

Selkirk coach Kevin Barrie and backs coach Michael Jaffray have galvanised the squad into an impressive outfit and all credit to the players for working so hard to improve their skills.

The club is blessed with a crop of talented young players, all passionate about playing for the Selkirk jersey, backed up by a large band of supporters whose enthusiasm is second to none.

Our home record has been impressive with wins against last season's runaway Premier One champions, Boroughmuir, National Cup-holders Melrose, and league leaders Ayr. Those victories were achieved without conceding a single try. Currie and Watsonians were also defeated at Philiphaugh and our away record includes three wins against Glasgow Hawks, Edinburgh Accies and Stirling County.

Hawick, Heriot's and West of Scotland took our scalps away from home and the lads will be striving to gain revenge in the return fixtures at Philiphaugh.

No-one's going to be resting on any laurels in the second half of the campaign and it promises to be a challenging period.

LAST Sunday at Bridgehaugh Selkirk edged a narrow 30-29 victory over Stirling County, collecting a crucial bonus point in the process, writes Fiona Scott.
Selkirk found themselves 14 down after only eight minutes to tries from Chris Faill and Graham Lindsay, Brian Archibald converting both.
The visitors woke up and Gavin Craig replied with two tries of his own before Fraser Harkness won the race for a long kick ahead to add a third, Michael Rutherford converting the latter.
Selkirk's lead was short-lived – Archibald kicking a penalty and Faill scoring again for a 23-20 interval lead, with Eddie Gauché in the sinbin.
After the restart Craig completed his hat-trick from Scott Tomlinson's kick into space and Rutherford converted.
Two Archibald penalties cut the deficit to one point – and not for the first time this season, Selkirk supporters were left on the edge of their seats until Harkness put them out of their misery by kicking the ball dead.
Tomorrow Selkirk play their third consecutive away match, this time against Currie at Malleny Park, with an early kick-off time of 12.15pm.

Gavin Craig gets the third try of his crucial hat-trick in Selkirk's one-point win over Stirling County. Photograph: Grant Kinghorn