London North West Three St Albans 30 Hammersmith & Fulham 28 St Albans kept up the pressure on the leading clubs with a narrow victory over Hammersmith and Fulham. Hammersmith can be tricky opponents depending on the availability of their overseas conting

London North West Three

St Albans 30 Hammersmith & Fulham 28

St Albans kept up the pressure on the leading clubs with a narrow victory over Hammersmith and Fulham.

Hammersmith can be tricky opponents depending on the availability of their overseas contingent, and certainly on Saturday they showed great resilience in twice coming back from significant deficits.

For their part St Albans minds seemed to be elsewhere and there was a reluctance to get really stuck in and therefore the score was closer than maybe it should have been.

The home side started with great energy and put considerable pressure on the Hammersmith and Fulham side.

It was only seven minutes into the game when Kentish slotted over the first penalty and three minutes later Ed Coy, now back to his dynamic best, was looping round the defence to score the first try. Mark Kentish slotted over the conversion.

It looked like an easy afternoon for the boys from Boggeymead Spring, but their play became sloppy and before 25 minutes had elapsed Hammersmith and Fulham were in the lead courtesy of two intercepted tries both of which were converted. Just before half time Mark Kentish added a second penalty to bring the scores to 13-14 at half time.

Saints started the second half as they did the first and had soon retaken the lead with another Kentish penalty. Ed Coy also repeated his work with another well taken try and again Kentish converted. St Albans kept up the pressure and with 10 minutes of the match remaining were further rewarded with a try by Justin Joubert after a series of forward drives. Kentish obliged again with the conversion and St Albans were 30-14 up. The sizable crowd expected Saints to push on but again their play slipped and Hammersmith brought themselves back into the game with an excellent try by their stand off who carried the possession all the way from his own 22 metre area.

St Albans gifted another try when a midfield knock-on was snatched up and, with good advantage being played, Hammersmith were able to break through for another try. Both tries were converted but St Albans held on to take the points.