Harpenden Town showed they are worthy of their position in the top five of the Spartan South Midlands League Premier Division as they edged a tight affair with Biggleswade United.

The 2-1 success at Rothamsted Park came courtesy of goals from Bobby Dance and Harvey Scott and ended the away side's four-game unbeaten run in the league.

The two sides had come into the game lying fourth and fifth and although the result doesn't change that, it does drag Harpenden to within one point of their visitors and six of the top of the table.

Manager Martin Standen fully believed his side were thoroughly deserving of the three points.

He said: "I feel like the result was always the way we were going to get it, as long as we turned up and did our job."

The first goal came early in the game from a free-kick on the right-hand side taken by Matt Standen that was directed into the net by the head of Dance.

Possession swayed first one way then the other as both teams enjoyed spells of domination.

However, towards the end of the first half the away side came back into it and drew level when a well-worked run down the left wing ended with a low shot from Lorrell Smith beyond goalkeeper Alex Desmond.

Both sides had further chances after that with Harpenden's best attempt seeing Chris Blunden have a close-range header cleared off the line by a defender.

At the other end Joel Nkeita's spectacular clearance made sure of parity at the break.

The second half started brightly for the home side.

A few efforts tested Biggleswade, one of which fell to Scott but from an acute angle his shot was bent just wide of the left post to the relief of the goalkeeper.

But the constant pressure eventually saw a breakthrough. George Robinson, who posed a threat down the left side, conjured a sweet ball to the back post which was turned in by Scott.

That's how the score stayed with both sides struggling to take charge.

Biggleswade were gifted one last chance when they were awarded a penalty. Any hopes they had of taking home a share of the spoils though were denied by the firm hand of Desmond.

Their Herts Charity Shield match against London Colney was postponed on Tuesday because of health and safety concerns over the building of the leisure centre next door.