After last week’s game was called off due to frozen pitches, Stewartry travelled to Linlithgow for their first game of 2025.
It was the home side that came away with the win in the end, 53-20, in Scottish National 4 action.
Despite starting the game well with a few early penalty kicks from fullback Andrew Picken, Linlithgow scored a couple of quickfire tries out wide after some lapses of concentration from the away team.
Linlithgow were disciplined in their first-half performance and managed to take a 28-6 lead into the halftime break.
Stern words in the Stewartry huddle, however, fired them into gear and they came out flying in the second half.
The Blacks were camped in the opposition 22 for the good part of 20 minutes and came away with two tries for their efforts, one each from centre partners Sam Tait and Ross Sanderson.
Poor discipline from the Reds saw them go down to 13 men at one stage but they defended well to keep Stewartry at bay.
Once Linlithgow were back up to a full complement of players, they got their acts together and dominated the final quarter to run in a number of tries and take all five points from the fixture.
A disappointing first game of the year for Stewartry but they now turn their attention to a return home to Greenlaw as they welcome fellow-strugglers North Berwick on Saturday
