In their heart of hearts, Howe of Fife knew their RBS Championship B title bid was going to fall agonisingly short and it did.
Faced with a Lasswade side at Riverside and the need to collect a win bonus to take the title, Jedforest were never going to slip up and indeed the champagne could have been broken out at half-time in the 48-14 win.
Howe were faced with the task of at least keeping things going until the last kick of the ball and at Kirkcaldy, they did just that by collecting the five points required to make the final winning margin for Jed as close as it could be just one point.
Howe won 38-14 with tries from Andy McLean with two and one each for Graham Thomson, Cameron Fenton, Jamie Potter and Alasdair Wilson with Dom Martin converting four.
Kirkcaldy’s points came from Dale Turner and Craig Watson tries with Jamie Moffat converting both.
A win in their final match for Aberdeenshire by 29-24 over Livingston sees them finish their first season at Championship B level with Kirkcaldy on 39 points and one place below them in seventh spot on points differential.
Shire led 24-17 at the break and with both sides claiming a second half try, the home side held on to take the spoils and a try bonus to boot.
Centre Iain Downie had a brace of tries for Shire and one each for Joe Lawson, Tom Kaiwara and Jamie Stephen clinched the bonus with Kaiwara converting two.
Shire can only be happy with that seventh spot finish, allowing them to go in to next season much more aware of what is required and being able to prepare accordingly.