Injuries and defeat mad it a miserable day for Harpenden in their top of London Division Two North West clash at leaders Belsize Park.

Harps bagged two converted tries and had a Tom Sweeney penalty in the 20-17 loss but ended up with Sean McLoughlin, Michael Goode and Sweeney himself all exiting the action with knocks.

Fred Gulliford and skipper Oli Lacey also had time out of the game before returning patched up.

The visitors did have the lead at the break thanks to scores from Nick Childs, converted by Will Hales, and a penalty try adding to Sweeney’s earlier kick.

But with the game evenly poised, the increasing numbers of wounded Harps meant they couldn’t exercise consistent control for long enough to fashion any further scores and it was Belsize who added a final try to their tally.

Harpenden are now fourth and face Grasshoppers on December 1 in their next game at Redbourn Lane.