UCSOB Rugby Club remained entrenched in the Herts Middlesex One relegation mire with a 34-20 defeat at Old Actonians.
The defeat means they remain tied on points with Wasps FC at the bottom of the table, but with a better points difference, and three points behind Hendon.
The game had started well, with Dan Stewart pulling the strings at fly-half. His clever wrap-round move created space out wide and although left winger Henry Day was stopped five metres out, Chris Bean went over in the corner.
Stewart converted from the touchline for a perfect start.
But Actonians rallied and scored a penalty for offside after 15 minutes, and then a break in midfield from the no.8 had the UCS defence scrambling and resulted in an unconverted try.
Back came UCS and a series of strong carries by Will Jones and Christian Henk eventually gave Stewart a penalty attempt which he made.
However, a penalty from the hosts cancelled that out and a try right on half-time put Actonians 16-10 up.
The second half started as badly as the first ended with Acton going in for another unconverted try.
More pressure from Actonians led to a clearance kick being fielded by the outside centre on half-way, which he returned with interest, and more poor tackling was to cost UCS with a fifth score.
But UCS never gave up and there was still a chance of a losing bonus point for the visitors after Ahmad Ghanem scored a wonderful try and then Tom Arnold was on the end of a flowing move to touch down wide on the right. Neither try was converted.
A penalty to the hosts finished the scoring and although Jones broke clear with five minutes left, it was snuffed out and a fourth away try didn’t come.
UCSOB skipper Arnold was left disappointed after the game.
He said: “We came here with high hopes of a win, and when you score three tries you would hope to close out the game.
“But we could not make our tackles either in midfield on their strike runners at 10 and 13, or out wide, and we missed some vital kicks at goal.
“We need to pick up a couple of wins before the end of the season to stay up”.
UCSOB: Henk, Bean, Ghanem, Ovens, Boulden (Pope 50 mins), Jones, Oulton, Zabci, Coates (O’Dwyer – 60 mins), Stewart, Loughnan, Arnold, Edwards, Day, Breakwell
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here