Medway 20 Harpenden 21: Regional 1 South East match report

Medway's home Regional 1 South East game with Harpenden was another case of fine margins after a 21-20 defeat.

Harpenden won November's contest by two points and Saturday's fast and flowing game was even closer.

From the kick-off there was a sense of urgency from the hosts and some excellent, disciplined work at the ruck and scrum forced a transgression after 10 minutes. Fly-half Owen Church-Mills converted from the tee for a 3-0 lead.

Harpenden missed a penalty of their own but their forwards and backs combined for a well-crafted try in the corner. They missed the extras, however, unlike Medway, who converted after Conor Chalmers grubber kicked and raced past the defence to score probably the side's best try this year.

Another penalty from Church-Mills made it 13-5 with five minutes of the half remaining before Harpenden hit back with a penalty and their second try to leave the game evenly poised.

Harpenden were the better side in the third quarter and despite Jordan Stubbington and Mo Pangarker's defensive efforts the inevitable penalty gave the away side the lead after 60 minutes.

However Medway's player-of-the-match, centre Olly Newton, carried deep into the opposition territory with eight minutes left. Several phases then saw Medway creep towards the try line and Newton finished what he had started with an emphatic score. Church-Mills added the extras and Medway led by four points.

The away side's response was instantaneous. Collecting the kick-off, their No.8 drove hard into the Medway 22 and in the space of a minute had won back the lead. The conversion, however, was missed although Medway were off target, too, with a late penalty wide of the mark.

Medway, bottom of the table, visit Bedford on Saturday (2.30pm).