Herts/Middlesex One: St Albans 17 Hendon 12

Hendon gave a good account of themselves in a 17-12 defeat at St Albans in Herts/Middlesex One.

As promotion favourites, the hosts were expected to win by a margin, but the Greenlands Lane club held them to a draw until the last quarter when St Albans achieved their winning try.

To their credit, Hendon pushed hard to get back into the game until the final whistle, but mistakes gave the home outfit the eventual win.

After 30 minutes of play and with the Greenlands Lane side looking to score first by holding the home side in their own half, it was a break away by the St Albans backline that saw them score in the corner for a 5-0 lead.

Hendon, though, got their reward five minutes later when, after repeated drives from their pack led to a string of penalties, Billy Burrell took a quick tap and passed for Rob Page to dive through the defence to score and make it 5-5 at the break.

St Albans scored first in the second half with a try after five minutes with the extras added to make it 12-5.

The Greenlands Lane club stuck to their game plan and carries from props Paul Julian and Gabriele Peraldo led to Toby Ikwueke touching down, but he was adjudged to be held up.

From the five-metre scrum, Hendon pushed over for a try by Julian which was converted by Dan Watterson to level the scores at 12-12.

Either side could have won with 15 minutes remaining, but it was to be St Albans who crossed again after punishing a defensive error from the visitors.

In the closing minutes, long kicks from defence by Watterson gave Hendon territorial advantage, but Cosy Mutuma could not find a way through.