Kingston 0 Old Wimbledonians 10

In an evenly fought away match to league strugglers Kingston on Saturday, the Old Boys found difficulty in breaking down a solid home defence, writes Eddie Bell.

Plenty of first-phase ball was won but the hosts slowed down the OW presentation of decent second-phase ball, sometimes even legally.

Again, too many penalties were conceded and, in the second half, this put the visitors under much pressure.

The major method of progress up the slope for Kingston was to make some long penalty kicks to touch and regain the ball from the ensuing line-out.

The Old Boys back line rarely functioned well due to the Kingston defenders being very quickly up on their opponents.

From a 0-0 half-time score, a victory was constructed by two particularly well-fashioned tries.

First, good progress down the slope, with the forwards securing rare quick second-phase possession, saw centre Paul Galvin thunder over the line halfway out to the left of the posts.

Matt Jones’s conversion kick narrowly passed the outside of the right upright. After play see-sawed up and down the pitch for another 30 minutes or so, with the visitors fighting grimly to defend their line, suddenly play veered to the OW left, the ball passing through several pairs of hands to winger George Attipoe, who beat his opposite number on the outside, deftly kicked ahead and beat the full-back to the touchdown for a superlative try.

Jones's conversion attempt again narrowly failed.

This was a deserved, hard-fought win. The line-out functioned well when the ball came in straight but the forwards had great difficulty in controlling their tight ball and getting it away quickly.

The Kingston breakaway forwards and centres were very quickly up and gave the visiting half-backs and midfield little time to settle; Matt Lucas had another steady game.

Sadly, two injuries were incurred – Peter Fokes and Galvin could be missing for a while.

Paddy Donaghy had a good game on the right wing with a couple of useful clearance kicks and one particularly elusive run down the middle of the pitch.

This Saturday's performance must be much more disciplined as OWs face league leaders Gosport and Fareham at Coombe Lane (2.15pm).