Despite an assured start giving them an early 3-0 lead, the home side were guilty of a lacklustre first period with Eton Manor seizing on opportunities to get their side of the scoreboard ticking.

The first try a forty yard run in from a charged down kick and a second following a loose ball at the back of a line out giving the visitors good field position in the twenty two as they were then able to engineer a mismatch as put the visitors 3-12 ahead.

Harps were able to fight back using on of their most potent weapons on the day, a catch and drive line out. With Sims latching himself onto the back of the mail to cut the deficit to 8-12.

Manor were flexing their muscles however and as in the away fixture Harpenden had some difficulty containing their scrum. Once again a loose ball in the midfield was swept up and turned into five points by the ever threatening back division, this soon became seven following the conversion. The Wanstead side were good value for their 8-19 lead as the players returned to the changing rooms to replenish the oxygen tanks for the mountain that they had to climb in the second half.

The second period didn't start well for Harps. A further try following a driving maul put the visitors 8-24 ahead with 30 minutes left on the clock. That mountain that lay before them had quickly grown from Alpine to Himalayan.

Yet steadily Harps started to make their way through the foothills as they once again activated the driving maul to good effect, Ed Preston managing to get his hands on the ball at the rapidly moving mass of bodies moving towards the whitewash.

Once again from short range, Harpenden were effective with Sims scoring his second try. Now the summit was in sight at 20-24.

The game was not short of physicality, some of which boiled over at times. The referee saw fit to send Jimmy Speirs and an Eton Manor player for a 10 minute cool down.

Still chasing that the elusive last try, Harps still had a job on to contain the dangerous Manor backline. They were able to control possession in Harpenden territory via a series of scrums and strong forward carries. Eventually the overlap was created and well finished in the corner. With the conversion unsuccessful and the score at 20-29. It looked more and more likely that home team were going to fall short with only 10 minutes to play.

However, Harps were in no mood to leave without reaching the top of this particular peak that was in front of them, no matter how steep. After managing to manoeuvre their way into the Manor twenty two, a series of penalties led the away side being reduced to 14. Shortly after, Mackenzie-Cardy bundled his way over the line. McClean slotted the conversion. Two points the difference with three minutes to play.

Following the kick off, a knock on gave Harps field position and it was from here the three quarters launched their most incisive move of the game. As the ball found its way to McClean, he spotted the gap showed a clean set of heals to the defence and dummied the 2 v 1 against the fullback to score the winning try.

Breathless and battered, Harpenden were able to cling on for the last minute to see themselves to victory. By the barest of margins.}

The promotion race remains as tight as before the game, with Colchester just one point shy of Harpenden and Southend with a slim mathematical chance of surpassing both nine points adrift.

Harpenden travel to Southend this weekend and face Sudbury on the final day on the 23rd April. Colchester are away to Eton Manor next and take on Southend to finish their season. An exciting two weeks await.

(Photo courtesy of etonmanorrfc.com)