Gifford joined the promotion race on Sunday as the top of Division 2 looks ever more congested.  This week’s visitors were Musselburgh Old, and just like every other time these teams have met home advantage proved decisive.

But the 4-1 final scoreline hardly did justice to the visitors’ efforts, and the top tie in particular saw a titanic struggle that could have gone either way.  Both sides had their young guns out, and Euan Glen and Matty Craigie came from two down on the back nine to level the match for the visitors.  As he came down the par 5 18^th hole home skipper Kevin Murphy was fully aware the match was still in the balance, with victory far from assured in two other ties.  But if he allowed any doubts to creep in his partner Blair Shearer certainly didn’t, and the magnificent 2-iron the youngster struck to within 15 feet of the hole effectively finished the job.  With Craigie and Glen unable to do better than par, the two-putt birdie for victory was a formality for Gifford.

By that time match 2 was already in the bag for the hosts, Steven Doctor and Shaun Cunningham having built a healthy lead early on, and there was a similar story at the bottom of the order where Peter Graham and Andy Finlayson picked up where they left off last week, playing great golf to win 7/6 and make sure of the points for their team.

And as the news of success filtered through, Craig Imrie and Colin Thomson rallied to turn their match in their favour and add a fourth point, the only one for the visitors coming from Colin Whoriskey and Kieron Blyth, whose steady play was enough to inflict a third straight defeat on the hapless Phil Demarco and Steven Ness.

So Murphy’s men are on the march, and next up is a short trip up the road to Castle Park in two week’s time.  The skipper will have no difficulty motivating his team for their local derby, but their opponents, fresh from Sunday’s win over Craigielaw, will be equally keen to halt their progress.