Richard Gregg’s relief after his game-winning penalty was drowned out by the cheers of his Old Albanian team-mates as they improved their current winning-streak to three games.

Seconds earlier, the OA fly-half had watched in agony as his scuffed kick inched through the air towards the posts. Mercifully, it just dropped over the bar by the finest of margins, handing OAs a 13-10 victory over Richmond.

“Relieved is the best way to describe it,” said Gregg.

“I’d been striking the ball well all game, out of hand and off the tee, and I’d back myself to make that kick nine out of 10 times so I didn’t feel any pressure. It literally just crept over. It was a bit embarrassing to be honest but I’m old enough and wise enough to know it doesn’t matter how you get a win.”

OAs may still be in the bottom three but the table is much prettier reading that it was three weeks ago when they’d failed to win and had two bonus points for all their wares.

In truth, Saturday’s win was no more than OAs deserved after an excellent display against an ill-disciplined Richmond side that had two men sin-binned in quick succession in the first half. That advantage turned into 10 points as Gregg kicked a penalty and then improved Max Wilkins’ try.

Richmond came back to level the game but, again, their discipline let them down as they presented Gregg with his game-winning kick.

“The first-half was probably some of the best rugby we’ve played against a top side, which was pleasing,” Gregg told the Herts Ad.

“We went off the boil a bit in the second but we managed to cling on. I think we deserved it from our first half performance. We’d done all the hard work and should have put the game to bed rather than need the kick.”

OAs will need to be ruthless on Saturday on their travels to bottom-placed Macclesfield. The National League One new-boys picked up their first win last weekend, against Loughborough Students no less, so will be looking to upset an in-form OAs team.

“They’re not going to be whipping boys this year; we can’t take anything for granted,” insisted Gregg.

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