A disappointing final quarter saw Edinburgh slip to defeat in the first leg of the Greaves Sports 1872 Cup derby double-header against Glasgow Warriors at Firhill.
On a bracing night in Maryhill, Rob Moffat's side competed well for much of the match and enjoyed a certain level of dominance in contact, but three defensive lapses allowed a combative and clinical Warriors side the scores that ultimately settled the match.
Edinburgh at least don't have long to wait for a shot at retribution, with Sean Lineen's team due at Murrayfield on Sunday 2 January for the capital rematch (kick-off 5.35pm).
A taut affair throughout, the Firhill game ended in dramatic fashion when Scott MacLeod and Chris Fusaro were both shown red cards after a skirmish in the wake of a maul.
Albeit to a lesser degree, there had been this same fiesty quality to the game early on, with both teams keen to lay down a marker for the rest of the match. David Blair put Edinburgh ahead with an eighth minute penalty, and nudged over another three points shortly after as Glasgow were penalised at a ruck.
Edinburgh had plenty defending to do in the opening quarter, but kept their shape and their nerve to repel the Warriors' attempts to move the ball wide at pace.
The hosts were then forced into a change, as centre Graeme Morrison left the field on a stretcher after a heavy midfield collision. Peter Murchie came on in his stead.
Glasgow continued to see a lot of the ball and the pressure finally told when, in quick succession, they landed a penalty and a converted try. From an Edinburgh perspective, the score was a maddeningly simple one, Rob Harley allowed to make a considerable amount of ground unchallenged before offloading sweetly to winger DTH van der Merwe. The Canadian did the necessary to give Jackson a difficult shot at the extras from out left, which the stand-off took impressively to put Glasgow 10-6 up.
It was key that Edinburgh reasserted themselves, and quickly, else the game could easily have slipped away from them. To the relief of everyone of a black and red (and, tonight, just about every other colour) persuasion, their reaction was swift and positive.
David Blair put them back within a point after Glasgow were pinged for hands in the ruck, then a huge Jim Thompson break down the middle caused chaos in the home defence, the inevitable offside allowing Blair to kick Edinburgh ahead at half-time.
HALF-TIME: GLASGOW WARRIORS 10 EDINBURGH 12
With the game so tight, each side was desperate to gain the third quarter impetus, and it was Edinburgh who got off to a promising start after the resumption. After Glasgow were again called up for handling at ruck time, David Blair stroked over perhaps his most straightforward kick of the night to give the visitors a five-point lead.
Glasgow soon hit back, however, Jackson landing another impressive three-pointer after Edinburgh were penalised for offside.
The game took an interesting turn ten minutes into the second period as Glasgow were reduced to 14 men following Richie Gray's ill-advised decision to kick the ball away while in an offside position. Blair knocked over the penalty to give Edinburgh the edge once more.
Glasgow's numerical inferiority didn't dampen their desire to play at pace, and the capital club were forced onto the back foot for much of the third quarter. They held out well until Ross Ford was himself dispatched to the sin-bin for a ruck offence, and Jackson stepped up to cut the deficit to two points with the resultant penalty.
A man down in the front row, head coach Rob Moffat sent on Andrew Kelly to hook, sacrificing loose forward Scott Newlands to facilitate the change.
Things soon went from bad to worse for the visitors, Hefin O'Hare exploiting a gap in the middle of their defence to power through for a score that was sent to the TMO for straightforward approval. Jackson added the extras to put Glasgow 23-18 up.
Max Evans, the home centre, added a decisive touchdown in the 76th minute, cutting a nice angle to give Jackson an easy conversion from in front of the posts. First blood to Glasgow in the festive double-header, but there are sure to be some more twists and turns come Murrayfield on Sunday.
Glasgow Warriors: B Stortoni; H O'Hare, M Evans, G Morrison, DTH van der Merwe; R Jackson, C Gregor; J Welsh, F Thomson, M Low, R Gray, A Kellock (captain), R Harley, R Vernon, J Barclay
Replacements: D Hall, R Grant, K Tkachuk, A Muldowney, C Fusaro, H Pyrgos, P Murchie, F Aramburu
Edinburgh: J Thompson; L Jones, B Cairns, J Houston, T Visser; D Blair, G Laidlaw; A Jacobsen, R Ford, G Cross, S MacLeod, F McKenzie, S Newlands, R Grant (captain), R Rennie
Replacements: A Kelly, K Traynor, D Young, S Turnbull, S McInally, J King, N De Luca, S Webster
Magners Man of the Match: DTH van der Merwe (Glasgow Warriors)
Ref: A Macpherson (SRU)
