Edinburgh hit back after defeat at Firhill to record a fine confidence-boosting win over Glasgow Warriors in the second leg of the Greaves Sports 1872 Cup.
First half tries from returning hero Netani Talei and that man Tim Visser put Rob Moffat's side in a strong position, only for their rivals from the other end of the M8 to come right back into things in the second half.
A last-minute interception score from the excellent Jim Thompson secured four precious Magners League points for the capital club, who were denied the chance to get their hands on the famous old silverware by the tightest aggregate margin (47-46).
The victory, before a tremendously large and vocal holiday crowd, sends Edinburgh into Saturday's Murrayfield clash with Scarlets in good spirits as they seek to continue their rise up the table.
Glasgow made a positive start to derby, stand-off Ruaridh Jackson landing two penalties inside the first six minutes.
Edinburgh hit back in fine style, No.8 Talei marking his return to the fold after a foot injury with a great score that arrived after a terrific Visser break on the back of good lineout ball. David Blair slotted the extras to put the hosts 7-6 up.
Even better was to come in the 22nd minute as a period of excellent handling, incisive recycling and thrilling quick ball finished with Visser dotting down in the left corner. Although the Dutchman takes plenty of plaudits for signing off the move, huge praise should also go the likes of Lee Jones, Ben Cairns and John Houston, who also had a big say in its success.
As ever, the Warriors were nothing if not tenacious, and soon showcased some impressive handling of their own, Richie Vernon and Max Evans coming up with lovely offloads to send Rob Harley careering over the line. Jackson missed with his conversion attempt, as he had minutes earlier with a penalty.
There was, for the most part, an engaging fluidity to the game, both teams looking to play heads-up, positive rugby. David Blair nudged Edinburgh's advantage to four points with a 32nd-minute penalty, but there was concern for the hosts seconds later as Craig Hamilton was sent to the sin-bin, paying the price for Edinburgh's persistent collective infringing. Jackson did, however, miss the resultant penalty.
Glasgow were themselves reduced to 14-men just before the interval, flanker John Barclay shown a yellow card after becoming embroiled in a couple of touchline skirmishes.
HALF-TIME: EDINBURGH 15 GLASGOW WARRIORS 11
The exchanges immediately after the interval were more scrappy in nature compared to the excitement of the first half, but Edinburgh would still have been content to land the first points of the second period through a David Blair penalty struck from the Glasgow 10m line.
Despite not establishing the same sort of fluidity as was the case earlier on, Edinburgh were still enjoying a good degree of forward momentum. David Blair kicked them ten points clear in the 61st minute after the Glasgow scrum was penalised.
A subsequent period of intense Warriors pressure on the Edinburgh line resulted in a penalty for offside, and Colin Gregor duly did the business from in front of the posts. The Warriors half-back reduced the deficit yet further with seven minutes to play, his latest three-pointer arriving after Edinburgh were pulled up for not rolling away.
These were anxious times for Edinburgh until Thompson picked off possession and ran from his own half to cross the line for a final, conclusive try that David Blair converted.
Edinburgh: J Thompson; L Jones, B Cairns, J Houston, T Visser; D Blair, G Laidlaw; A Jacobsen, R Ford, G Cross, C Hamilton, F McKenzie, R Grant (captain), N Talei, R Rennie
Substitutes: A Kelly, K Traynor, D Young, S Turnbull, S Newlands, M Blair, N De Luca, S Webster
Glasgow Warriors: B Stortoni; H O'Hare, M Evans, P Murchie, DTH van der Merwe; R Jackson, C Gregor; J Welsh, F Thomson, M Low, R Gray, A Kellock, R Harley, R Vernon, J Barclay
Substitutes: D Hall, R Grant, K Tkachuk, A Muldowney, R Wilson, H Pyrgos, P Horne, F Aramburu
Ref: N Paterson (SRU)
Magners Man of the match: Tim Visser (Edinburgh)
