Hendon maintain winning run after rollercoaster encounter with Old Isleworthians

Hendon battled back from behind in the last five minutes to win a rollercoaster encounter, beating Old Isleworthians 27-20 and earning their sixth victory from seven games in Herts/Middlesex Division Two.

The Dons lost an early 10-point lead and found themselves 20-17 behind late on – but a converted try from Dave Connell and a Mike Evans-Jones penalty ensured the hosts came out on top by seven points, leaving them fifth in the table.

Hendon started quickly up their Copthall slope, with a series of pick-ups and rolling mauls producing a scrum and then a try for Paul Geraghty.

From the restart, Geraghty took the ball up the field to set up a repeat move, but instead scrum-half Cian Hynes threw the ball out to the backs – and it was Hynes who finished the move, while Evans-Jones converted to put the home side 12-0 up in the 10th minute.

However, Old Isleworthians stopped the tide, with their No10 growing in influence, and they turned the match around in the second half, scoring a penalty and two converted tries to go 17-12 ahead.

With 10 minutes left, Dan Ledger won the ball at the line-out and Hynes set up John McCarthy, who crashed through the defence and found Tom Mathias, whose try levelled the scores at 17-17.

Isleworth edged in front with a penalty kick and led with just five minutes left. But Brian O’Regan led a charge from the forwards and Connell got over the line, while Evans-Jones converted and then added a penalty as Hendon emerged victorious once again.

They travel to basement boys Quintin for their next league encounter on Saturday.