Bancroft 10
Wanstead 8
(Essex One)

BANCROFT were made to fight all the way to edge this tight local derby with Wanstead at Hillside Avenue.

Both sides, missing key players, were forced to delve deep into their senior squads once again as the season draws to a close.

The B's took to the pitch knowing that a win would secure a top-half finish in the league, there was also a large slice of derby pride to play for.

The Herons meanwhile were looking to put a shine on a frustrating season, with recent results hinting at an upturn in their form.

In difficult conditions the visitors started the stronger with their large and experienced pack bossing the play.

But they couldn't turn this into points even when Rob Seltzer was handed a penalty opportunity.

Bancroft finally forced themselves into the game, although this flow was soon lost when their outside centre Ben Hardy suffered a double fracture and dislocation to his ankle, which caused a 45 minute delay.

Bancroft took the break a little better than the visitors and on 25 minutes when Andy Burrowes distributed to Gareth Ball who made a break to scamper under for his first competitive try for the club. Tom Farrow added the extras to give the B's a 7-0 lead.

With both teams struggling to put together a decent series of phases the remainder of the half was even, apart from a penalty from Seltzer that closed the gap to four points at the interval.

The second half started in the same manner the first had finished.

Led by Burrowes, Bancroft showed a lot more spirit and adventure than in previous weeks, while Wanstead started to open their attack thanks to an excellent centre display from Seltzer.

But basic errors let both sides down and left the score as it was at the break. Finally having already missed a penalty attempt Farrow converted another kick to increase the hosts' lead to 10-3.

The Herons were starting to tire but battered away at the home defence whenever they could.

And finally with five minutes to go there were nerves amongst the watching home crowd, as Rob Fedele crashed over a try.

With a conversion attempt to level the scores Wanstead were looking to repeat their trick of a previous drawn game between the sides.

This time however the wind saved the B's as Andy Donovan's conversion attempt sailed short and wide.