Saturday's victory by Stamford against second in the table Old Brentwoods virtually secures promotion for them and leaves the Old Boys to reflect on a poor first half performance with thoughts of what might have been.
Despite both sides missing early penalty opportunities the general skill and commitment level was high.
The turning point in the game came in the fifth minute as Old Boys scrum half Sean Nicholson sustained a serious ankle injury resulting in a half hour delay in the match.
From the restart it was clear that Stamford had benefited more from the reshuffle of the visitors and a penalty and two tries followed.
A penalty from Laurie Cuttmore and some forceful runs from back row Matt Staines and Chris Cakebread restored some stability to the Old Boys position, but the clinical play of the home side saw their number eight claim a brace of tries, the latter being converted.
The return of Peter Womersley to the Old Boys front row helped the visitors secure more ball in the scrums and be more competitive in the rucks.
The Old Boys exerted more pressure on Stamford, and a further penalty from Cuttmore made the score 27-6.
The second half saw the Old Boys enjoying more success in the lineouts through Gavin Strachan and Pat Stroud, and they provided more ball for the backs to pressurise the Stamford defences.
The Old Boys had much the better of the second half and went close on several occasions. Chris Reah going closest when his chip over the top of the Stamford back line looked perfect, only for his follow up to be impeded on the way through the defensive line.
With minutes to go the Old Boys defence was finally breached and the try in the left corner gave Stamford a final victory scoreline of 32-6.
Despite losing the Old Boys can feel proud of the way that they approached the game and should look to emulate this performance of grit and determination in their remaining league and cup games this season.
Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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