London 3 North/West 22nd October 2016

Cheshunt started the game well and certainly finished with a flourish, which nearly pinched a result they barely deserved, for large parts of the game they were pinned inside their own half. From the kick off the visitors slowly worked their way up field, three consecutive penalties allowed Reece Shoobridge to have a pot at goal from the 10 yard line, it sailed wide but Cheshunt remained camped in and around the 22, then from a scrum, the ball was fed to Bobby Bolton, who spun out of tackles and over the line, Shoobridge’s conversion gave C’s a 0-7 lead after just 6 minutes. St Albans also missed with their first pot at goal, but they were soon on the board when the fly half kicked into space down the right wing, despite attention from Sam Rule the winger touched down near the corner. The home side then dominated territory for the remainder of the half without looking particularly threatening, until a fairly innocuous looking attack around halfway suddenly burst into life as the Cheshunt defence went missing, the centre was able to race to the line unhindered from the 10 yard line. There was still time before the break for another score, the forwards, after several attempts, forced their way over in the corner, the second try was converted and St Albans went into the break leading 17 -7. Cheshunt started the second period as they had the first, Jake Phillips made a promising break and was stopped just short, St Albans halted the attack by slowing the ball down, turning down the simple penalty under the posts, Shoobridge took a quick tap and found Dean Gardener charging towards the line, he took several defenders over the whitewash with him and the visitors thought they were back in the game at 17-12. However the next twenty minutes all belonged to the home side, a penalty increased their advantage to 20-12, Kaz Topham was then unfortunate to receive a yellow card for offside and St Albans were quick to take advantage of the extra man with another try and were getting out of sight at 25-12. Cheshunt failed time and again to get out of their half and contributed towards their own downfall making silly mistakes and turning ball over and when they gave away a penalty on the 10 yard line, the home side took a quick tap and were behind the Cheshunt defence in no time to stretch away to 30-12 with only 12 minutes on the clock. The end of the game though was turned on its head, the St Albans fly half was yellow carded for a high tackle and C’s kicked to the corner, the catch and drive couldn’t force the ball over so it was spun along the line and Sam Rule finished well in the corner, during the move St Albans received a second yellow, also for a high tackle and the visitors sniffed a chance at 30-17 against 13 men. They ensured a close finish with their next attack, a kick to the corner gave St Albans the throw but Joel Bailey won the ball and crashed over from short range. From the re-start the Green and Whites put together their best phase of play of the afternoon, Bolton broke through, found Alex Clark in support who touched down to narrow the gap to 30-27. Unfortunately there wasn’t enough time to add to their total and Cheshunt had to be satisfied with both the try and the losing bonus points. Next Saturday, Cheshunt entertains Hitchin at Andrews lane.