The Old Wimbledonians went down by a single point against Old Paulines at Thames Ditton on Saturday as they lost 22-21.

The home team were the current league leaders and so on the surface this was a satisfactory result; except that this was a game that could and should have been won by a clear 10 points.

Two chances were thrown away in the last five minutes which would have given a more appropriate end result.

The first half was an untidy affair with both teams taking a while to settle.

However , following some pressure on the Pauline twenty-two metre line one of the home forwards was penalised for preventing release of the ball.

James Hodgson gave the visitors a short lived lead which Paulines equalised when a visiting forward was caught handling the ball in a ruck.

Scores were again swapped when following a spectacular dropped goal by Hodgson the home kicker slotted a penalty for a visitor not letting the ball go when held in a tackle.

The Old Wimbledonians continued to run the ball whenever possible and troubled the home team; Harry Tabb was a constant threat and Tom Harwood in the centre showed his versatility putting his winger away on several occasions.

The home team took the lead after half an hour when once again the Old Wimbledonians transgressed by not releasing the ball.

However, the visitors retook the lead with a smartly taken try from Paddy Donaghy in the right corner, just out of range of Hodgson's conversion kick.

The visitors tried to play attacking rugby but were continually pegged back by their own inefficiency in giving away too many penalties.

However, the Wimbledonians reached the break with a narrow two point lead.

In the second period most of the early pressure came from the Paulines in search of an advantage.

They scored an early try from their winger, who whilst speedy was greeted with some flimsy tackling.

This try was converted and restored the lead to the Old Paulines who after fifteen minutes added a penalty for offside to give them an eight points advantage.

The Old Wimbledonians now came back more into the game in an effort to secure an important victory.

Dan Jukes and Taz Habib were prominent in the lineout and Phil Read was a source of energy all over the field. Scrum half Tabb made several incisive breaks which with more support would have produced tries, and Jamie Crone came very close with a run down the right.

However, the best move of the match came from Donaghy with a jinking run down the right wing before stepping inside to score near the posts enabling Hodgson's conversion to bring the visitors to within a point of the home score.

The last chance of victory to the visitors was squandered when a spilled pass out on the left enabled the home team to come away with a narrow win.

The Wimbledonians came away with a losing bonus point.

Next Saturday Wimbledonians entertain Cranleigh at Coombe Lane.