St Albans Centurions fell to defeat as they travelled to Brentwood Eels for their first away game of the season.

The 12-10 win began perfectly for the hosts with a try inside the opening five minutes and with rain falling intermittently throughout, the Cents found themselves in even more trouble with a second try before the midway point of the first half.

Fortunately both conversions were missed and only then did St Albans, with four new players in their squad and eight changes in total from the win against Hemel Stags, start to fight back.

Toby Sweeney calmed the nerves further, crashing over from 10 yards out, and with Josh Lawrence and Joe Shaw to the fore, they turned round confident even at 8-4 down.

A third and final unconverted try from the Eels stretched the gap further but David Coyle's barnstorming run and Harry Mack's extras set up a frantic final 10 minutes.

And Saints came close several times but in the end the Brentwood defence held out for the win.