PLENTY of guts and brawn but still Whitecraigs could only manage a draw at the weekend.

It was a bruising encounter at West Lodge on Saturday when newly promoted Lasswade were the opposition.

And the tone was set early on when Fisher smashed his opposite number with a thunderous tackle in the first few minutes.

The opening exchanges saw both sides making forays into the danger zone but resolute defence ensured the score stayed level.

Finally the deadlock was broken after half an hour when a stunning run from McKelvie gave "Craigs a scrum in opposition territory.

And an opportunist piece of play by scrum half Henderson gave "Craigs the opening try.

A majestic conversion by Moffat against a howling gale opened up a seven-point advantage.

But Lasswade hit straight back and on the stroke of half time they breached the home defence and the visitors levelled it at 7-7 at the break.

For most of the second period "Craigs were camped in their half as Lasswade controlled proceedings.

And despite Del Nolan being sin-binned for persistent fouling the "Craigs defence held firm.

Both sides had chances to nick a win late on but neither kicker could grab the glory for their team.

And at the end of a well-fought battle both teams had to be content with two points and a share of the spoils.

Head coach Jim Henderson said: 'I"m disappointed by the result but pleased that it was held to a draw.

'The pleasing aspect was our defence which held out for 20 minutes and was relentless.

'It will certainly be a feature of this division - big packs and we have to develop to combat this.' Team - Davies, B. Blamire, Laidlaw, F. Hunter, H. Hunter, N. Blamire, Hart, Smylie, Henderson, Little, McKelvie, Moffat, Fisher, Hutton, Stevenson. Subs - Nolan, Percival, K. Hunter.