FOLLOWING Gala Wanderers’ defeat to Stirling County on Wednesday night, Selkirk Youth Club remain the last Borders side standing in the National Youth Cup.
On Sunday the young Souters play their semi-final against Boroughmuir Colts at Victoria Park (2pm), but before that, tomorrow, they will look to get their Kings of the Sevens challenge back on track when they travel to the Gala Wanderers event.
Youth Club face Hawick Wanderers in the penultimate tie of the opening round, with the first match kicking off at 1.30pm.
After five rounds of the series, the young Souters sit in second place, just seven points behind Gala Wands.
Last week at Hawick, the Gala side squeaked a 31-26 win over Selkirk in the final.
Youth Club sailed through their earlier ties against Peebles Colts (31-0), Tynedale (26-5) and Hawick Wanderers (31-0) to reach the final stage.
Gala Wanderers started off the stronger, sailing into a 24-0 lead with tries by Fraser Welsh, Liam Scott and a brace from James Parker, but Youth Club began to find their feet and a crucial touchdown from Kieran Monks just on half-time, converted by Josh Welsh, gave them a lifeline.
The second period saw Selkirk strike first with a converted try by Welsh to reduce the Gala advantage to just 10 points, but another try from Fraser Welsh gave the Gala boys some breathing space at 31-14.
Youth Club then threw everything at their opponents, producing further scores from Monks, one converted by Welsh, to reduce the deficit to just five points – but Gala managed to hold on.