Upper Clapton 36

Hendon 15

The final scoreline does not give credit to Hendon's performance which at half-time could have given them a much-needed win in their desperate fight for survival in the Herts/Middlesex League One.

Instead, they've been left facing a mission impossible.

Once again everything went wrong in the last few minutes as Upper Clapton claimed 17 points to make victory safe.

In the first half, Hendon were against the wind, and the visitors' threequarters ran at their defence.

After 10 minutes, Hendon went ahead when flanker Lyle Williams intercepted a threequarter move to run the length of the field and score a try, converted by John Ryan.

But poor forward play from the restart allowed UC possession for their winger to run in his first try, 7-7.

After defending for the next 20 minutes, Ryan's kick was returned by the UC full back, Williams collected and ran to the 22, and the ball was moved via Michael Beard to Donal Donohue who crashed over, giving Hendon a 12-7 lead.

But Hendon again immediately conceded their advantage as the UC threequarters again ran in a try, 14-12 at the interval.

After UC went over again, 19-12, Ryan restored Hendon's hopes with a penalty.

With eight minutes left, Hendon were wrongly punished when UC handled in the scrum, the penalty was kicked, and Hendon lost their concentration, allowing their opponents to run in two more tries.

Though Hendon can take encouragement from this display, they face a tall order at home to leaders Twickenham on Saturday.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000.Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.