It was honours even after a fashion in this 1872 Cup return leg, with Edinburgh getting revenge for last week’s 22-10 defeat in the first leg at Scotstoun but Glasgow doing enough to retain the trophy on aggregate.
All the same, both sides also had to feel some frustration at the way the match panned out.
While the Warriors had the consolation of a losing bonus point, they would have ended the first half of the regular season back on top of the United Rugby Championship had they won - and for much of the match that looked like a probable outcome. And the fact that Rory Darge suffered a potentially long-term knee injury in the second half clearly added to the downbeat mood in the visitors’ camp.
For their part, Edinburgh never looked like threatening to overhaul the 12-point deficit they took into the game. They remain safely inside the play-off places when a defeat would have left them in danger of falling out of the top eight, but they only rarely hit their best form.
Having said all that, the fact that the match was played in front of a record crowd for a Scottish club rugby match tells its own story. While both teams remain works in progress, that progress is tangible enough to have persuaded nearly 37,904 people to leave their firesides and brave a bitterly cold afternoon.
Edinburgh coach Sean Everitt had insisted that his team would conduct the requisite points chase in an orderly manner, but before they had anything approaching a scoring chase they found themselves further behind on aggregate. An offence allowed the Warriors to send a penalty to touch deep inside the home 22, and from the lineout maul the prolific Johnny Matthews scored his tenth try of the campaign.
Glasgow briefly threatened to add to their tally midway through the half, but then, virtually out of nowhere, Edinburgh claimed the score they badly needed to get back into the game. First Darcy Graham got close to the line from a tap penalty, and then, when play went left, Mark Bennett floated a superb pass to his fellow-centre Matt Currie, who dived to score in the left corner. Ben Healy was wide with the conversion attempt.
Five minutes into the second half, Edinburgh went to the corner with a penalty rather than go for goal, but then failed to convert the lineout into points. However, they were awarded another opportunity five minutes further on following a ruck offence, and this time Healy opted to go for goal, with his successful kick putting his team ahead for the first time.
Glasgow coach Franco Smith brought five of his six forwards replacements on within a couple of minutes of each other in an attempt to wrest the initiative back - the first four substitutions were planned, and then Henco Venter had to come on for Darge.
Minutes later the Warriors did get back in front, but thanks to a player who had been on from the start, Stafford McDowall, rather than one of the newcomers.
The centre had a lot of work to do when he was fed by captain Sione Tuipulotu, but he did it extremely well, powering past two defenders and then stretching out to reach the line as Edinburgh full-back Wes Goosen closed him down. Horne added the two points to put his team 14-8 ahead, but with quarter of an hour left Healy halved the deficit with his second penalty of the day.
Then, inside the final ten minutes, Graham robbed Glasgow ball inside his own 22 and broke before passing to Duhan van der Merwe. When the winger received possession he still had around 70 metres to run, and he just had enough staying power to reach the line before the defence closed him down, putting his team 16-14 ahead.
Healy’s conversion attempt missed, but with time running out he made it 19-14 with another penalty. Another full score would only have brought Edinburgh level on aggregate, and that would have allowed Glasgow to retain the Cup. But in the event neither side came close to another score, and the only remaining event of note was the sin-binning of Marshall Sykes, Edinburgh’s replacement lock, for foul play on George Turner.
