AND THEN THERE WERE TWELVE...

HERTS-MIDDLESEX MERIT TABLE FOUR NORTH-EAST CUP

AND THEN THERE WERE TWELVE…

ENFIELD IGNATIANS IIIs 5 ST ALBANS 54

The threes had it tough against top of the league St Albans in the main cup completion after tasting defeat against the visitors for the second time in a week, but the silver lining for them is that their silverware ambitions aren’t over yet as redemption beckons in the Plate competition.

It proved a tough game for the hosts but, contrary to what the scoreline would suggest, it proved to be a tight first-half, and the blue and golds certainly had plenty of territory in this part of the game – if not quite the execution.

Although Ignatians’ woes were compounded by losing two players to injury, Alex Bucknall and Stanley Adepegba-Ogidan, and the state of numerical inferiority saw the visitors cash in with a brace of tries which forged a 14-0 half-time lead.

Both sides kept it tight which was reflected in the scoreline. However, matters changed in the second-half, when there was a lot more space, and particularly as Ignatians were down to 12 after picking up another injury.

Consequently, the floodgates opened as St Albans ratcheted up the pressure and, the end result, was a flurry of tries which saw the in-form visitors rocket past the half-century mark.

Not that Ignatians ever gave up. A change in saw tactics saw St Albans increasingly pinned back and some great scrummaging by the tight eight again put the visitors on the back foot, before tenacious scrum-half, Richard James-Beale, sniped his way over for a consolation score.

Captain Steve Renny said: “We always knew that it was going to be a tough game against a top of the league side, but Enfield never gave up.”