Parks guns down Edinburgh

Glasgow Warriors bounced back from their comprehensive Boxing Day defeat to Edinburgh with a 25-20 win in the reverse fixture at Firhill.

The Scottish rivals, meeting for the second time in seven days, played out another fiercely competitive contest, however this time it was Glasgow who bagged the spoils.

After their 39-6 defeat at Murrayfield on Boxing Day, Sean Lineen's Warriors clearly had a point to prove and they certainly made it with a much-improved showing in Glasgow.

Fly-half Dan Parks once again grabbed the headlines with a 17-point haul, however it was centre Graeme Morrison's try four minutes before half-time which put the hosts in command.

Morrison's score cancelled out a try from Jeff Cross after just 10 minutes, and despite Ben Cairns' touchdown with a minute to go, Edinburgh rarely looked like claiming the points.

Alert

Glasgow looked the livelier side during the opening exchanges - only to find themselves adrift after 10 minutes thanks to a woefully soft try.

Recalled Edinburgh lock Matt Mustchin took the ball into the danger zone and although the chance appeared to have been lost when the ball went loose, alert prop Cross reacted first to scoop it up and trundle over between the posts.

Phil Godman landed the simple conversion to give the visitors a 7-0 lead, however the wounded Warriors hit back in powerful fashion to narrow the gap to a single point.

First Parks warmed the hands of the home spectators with a penalty straight from the restart and then repeated the feat in the 13th minute when Allan Jacobsen was yellow-carded by referee Rob Debney for a ruck offence.

Parks surged back into the limelight midway through the half to claim an opportunist drop goal which edged the hosts 9-7 in front.

Glasgow's hopes suffered a double setback in the build-up to the interval. First, international hooker Fergus Thomson was forced off with a rib problem, then lock Tim Barker was removed on a stretcher in the wake of a collision with team-mate Moray Low.

Victim

But they shook off the effects of the reshuffle to create an excellent try in stoppage time when scrum-half Sam Pinder made the initial break before Parks fed Morrison who left the Edinburgh markers rooted to dive over.

Parks gleefully slammed over the kick, and added another slick drop-goal to stretch the margin to 12 points.

Scottish international Parks was then wayward with two penalty efforts, while Godman was spot-on at the other end to give his team-mates fresh hope while trailing just 17-13.

However it was Glasgow who snatched the crucial next score when Parks rediscovered his range when Pinder was the victim of an offside challenge by Jim Hamilton.

Marksman Parks was replaced by young star Ruaridh Jackson - and the rookie underlined his cool disposition by clipping over a penalty less than two minutes later to all but seal the win.

The visitors did have the last word, however, as Cairns scooted over for their second touchdown to salvage a consolation bonus point - substitute David Blair adding the conversion.