Hampstead coach Peter Breen praised his side’s steel and determination as a patched-up team overturned a 14-point half-time deficit to triumph 27-24 at St Albans in London Division Two North-West.
The visitors trailed 24-10 at the break but two quickfire tries from new recruit Christos Cardulious changed the game as Hampstead earned their first victory in three games, leaving them eighth in the table.
Breen told Ham&High Sport: “It was a very testing week due to the unavailability of a lot of the players for various reasons, so we only had 17 men in the squad.
“We struggled in the first half because people were exhausted at the efforts of just getting a team together. Considering that, to win the second half 17-0 was really impressive, and it just shows our steel and determination.”
Hampstead started the first half terribly but nevertheless took the lead against the run of play as winger Pete Wood intercepted a pass and ran to the line, while Dan Dimoline added the extras alongside a first-half penalty.
However, St Albans scored three converted tries and a penalty before the interval and held a 24-10 advantage at the break.
The visitors were a different team in the second half, and they scored quickly through Dave Corridan after some strong work by Will Pettit, but Dimoline missed the conversion and, with 15 minutes to go, Hampstead were still 14 points down.
Fly-half Cardulious stepped up to the plate though with a rapid brace of tries, both of which were converted by Dimoline as Breen’s side triumphed by three points.
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