A pulsating encounter at Murrayfield in front of a 13000 crowd, a record for the annual derby, saw the spoils shared in the first leg of this years 1872 Cup as the visitors snatched a draw at the death.
Tim Visser was once again in the tries as he touched down twice to take his tally in the RaboDirect PRO12 to double figures - just four short of his record breaking tally last season (14).
Edinburgh head coach, Michael Bradley said: “It was always going to be a close game.
"They are a big side and difficult to break down. Despite the tries we scored, we were never comfortable at any stage and we weren’t able to control the last twenty minutes.
“It was extremely tight margins for the entire game. When we kept the pace up in the first twenty we were creating opportunities but they always put pressure on us."
The sides meet again this coming Sunday (1 January) in the return leg at Firhill and Bradley said he will take time to think about how to approach the second leg.
“We’ll have a look at the video ahead of next week but it’s a different game and the pitch is tighter there. We’ll have a think about the kind of team we want to select," he explained.
Edinburgh started far brighter than their opposite numbers, a signal of intent as Tim Visser came off his wing on the first phase of play to crash through the middle of the Glasgow defence.
It took the home side just three minutes to register the first try of the night. After intense early pressure Netani found Ross Rennie with a pop pass and the openside barged his way over, the Glasgow defence not quick enough to keep up with the work around the fringes by the home pack.
Laidlaw added the conversion to make it 7-0 in the opening few minutes.
The first of three television match official decisions came just three minutes later as Samoan wing David Lemi chipped past the Edinburgh defence with the bounce of the ball looking to have beaten Chris Paterson in his own in-goal. The TMO ruling though that Paterson has got his hands to it first.
In what was developing into a contest with some big collisions, Glasgow skipper Al Kellock came off worse trying to stop Grant Gilchrist bursting through the middle.
Edinburgh came close to touching down for a second time as Visser again found the gaps in defence, but a last ditch tackle stopped the winger just short of the line.
Glasgow were reduced to 14 men after just a quarter of an hour with Pat MacArthur shown the yellow card for taking out James King who had chipped in behind the visitors defence.
Greig Laidlaw, starting again at 10, slotted the penalty to give Edinburgh a 10-0 lead. Two minutes later Glasgow had registered their first points, Weir with a successful penalty after Geoff Cross was penalised in a ruck.
Glasgow crossed the whitewash themselves when Kellock, fully recovered from his collision with Gilchrist, picked up from the back of a ruck and evaded two tackles to touch down. Weir made the conversion from the far touchline to draw the scores level (10-10).
Scotland winger Rory Lamont came off second best in another big hit, this time with Ross Rennie. Lamont stretchered off and taken to hospital as a precaution.
Half time: Edinburgh Rugby 10-10 Glasgow Warriors
The second half again saw Edinburgh sharper at the breakdown and more fluid in attack and, although Laidlaw missed an early penalty opportunity, he made up for it as Glasgow were again penalised for handling on the ground, and extended his side's lead by three points.
However, the visitors hit back almost straight away with Duncan Weir hitting another penalty of his own after the Edinburgh front-row were penalised at scrum time (13-13).
The end-to-end nature of the match rode on as Edinburgh established their lead once again after 51 minutes with the familiar sight of Tim Visser breaking tackles and touching down in the corner from a lovely first-phase scrum attack move.
Talei broke free in the loose and fed King who set Visser free on the left with Visser showing his devastating power and pace reach the corner flag, with the TMO confirming the score.
Laidlaw's missed conversion meant Edinburgh had a five point cushion.
Just a minute later the expansive game of Edinburgh opened up Glasgow again and Visser was again given the nod by the TMO.
Visser, for the second time, Visser escaped the clutches of the Glasgow defence to touch down by the narrowest of margins, Laidlaw missed a second conversion but the lead was a respectable 10 points (23-13).
Then, at the other end, a tremendous try-saving tackle from David Denton on Troy Nathan prevented an almost certain score but a grubber kick from replacement stand-off Ruaridh Jackson found it’s way through the Edinburgh lines and Colin Shaw, who took to the field fo the injured Rory Lamont, nipped in to touch down.
Jackson's conversion was just wide (23-18).
Moments later disaster struck as the combination of a gust of wind and a cruel bounce snatched victory from the home side with just a few minutes left on the clock.
A high ball from Chris Cusiter was held up by the high wind and the over-run Edinburgh defence and Glasgow attack just missed the ball in the in-goal area before it bounced back into the path of Jackson to touch down and level the scores at 23 a piece. Jackson again missing the conversion.
Jackson then had one more chance to snatch the win with a penalty from half-way but it fell short and the time was up.
Edinburgh Rugby: Chris Paterson; Lee Jones, Nick De Luca, James King, Tim Visser; Greig Laidlaw CAPTAIN, Mike Blair; Kyle Traynor, Geoff Cross, Grant Gilchrist, Sean Cox (Lozada 40), David Denton, Ross Rennie, Netani Talei.
Substitutes: Alun Walker, Allan Jacobsen on for Traynor (49'), Jack Gilding, Esteban Lozada on for Cox (41'), Roddy Grant on for Rennie (61'), Phil Godman, Matt Scott on for Scott (69'), Jim Thompson.
Glasgow Warriors: Stuart Hogg, Federico Aramburu, Peter Murchie, Troy Nathan, Rory Lamont, Duncan Weir, Chris Cusiter, Ryan Grant, Pat MacArthur, Mike Cusack, Richie Gray, Al Kellock CAPTAIN, Rob Harley, John Barclay, Johnnie Beattie.
Substitutes: Dougie Hall, Jon Welsh for , Moray Low, Tom Ryder, Ryan Wilson, Henry Pyrgos, Rob Dewey, Ruaridh Jackson
Referee: Neil Paterson
Att: 13240 (Scottish league record)
