Woodford play their "Get out of Jail free" card.....

Trailing 21-11 with 15 minutes left on the clock, two late scores ensured Woodford remained in second place behind high scoring Haringey on point’s difference at the top of London NW3.

Enfield started the brighter and forced Woodford into conceding a series of penalties. It was only a matter of time before the Ignatian kicked would find his range and he slotted his third shot to take Enfield into a deserved lead.

Intelligent kicking from the boot of the Enfield number 10 pinned the Highams men in their own 22 and when Ignatians turned over a Woodford scrum, their outside centre hit a great line and found himself under the posts for the first try of the day. Special thanks to the Enfield physio who saved us all from the squeals of prop Eleftheriou after his failed attempts to stop the try ended up with him running into the post. The Enfield 10 knocked over the conversion to make it 10-0 to the home side.

Woodford then stated to claw their way back into the game and Wynne scored from a driving maul. When Eacott then knocked over a penalty to make it 10-8, the Woodford players felt they were back in the game and were ready to take control in the second half. Enfield had other ideas and quickly scored a driving maul of their own. Another score saw Enfield stretch their lead to

21-11 and with only around 15 minutes left looked likely to record a second away defeat of the season for the Woods.

However, in the final ten minutes, Woodford started to enjoy some possession and after some strong running by the forwards an overlap was created and winger Bevan was sent clear. With only the full back to beat, he cut inside and placed the ball over the white wash. Eacott missed the conversion but Woodford smelt victory and from the kick off started to throw the ball around before Steve Pearson on season debut touched down after another driving maul. Eacott obliged with the conversion and the comeback was complete. The game was a tight tussle in which the Ignatians can feel more than a little unlucky to have lost. However, the courage that Woodford showed when staring defeat in the face is a promising sign for the promotion hopefuls.

Woodford welcome league leaders Haringey to the Highams on the 3rd December where supporters can enjoy a pre match booze up disguised cunningly as the “Captains Lunch”. Your support would be much appreciated for a match that could well decide who is automatically promoted so please contact My Wynne or Richard DeBerry by Monday 28th November if you would like to attend.

Team:

Eleftheriou, Fletcher, Mullins (Kayser 60), Kearns, Williams, Cullen (Sams 70), Pearson, Wynne (C), Keane, Dwight, Bevan, Tyack (Grant 60), Levis, Luggeri, Eacott