Roofe puts lid on Park comeback

By JOHN VALLELY

Westcombe P………33

Old Albanians……..26

WESTCOMBE Park left it late to seal a thrilling win over Old Albanians.

The visitors had the best of a competitive first half and winger Gregory Lound touched down ten minutes in after being put in by his centre partner. Sam Jones converted.

Harry Hudson struck back for Combe as the second quarter started after phase play in the visitors' 22. Nathan Wyman kicked the conversion to level the scores.

OAs took the lead after a storming run from open side Toby Ponsford broke tackles to put centre Tom Bailey in for the try which he converted.

Immediately after the restart the visitors moved further ahead when Ponsford went over for a try of his own.

At 19-7 down it looked over for Combe but a lineout drive finished by Taine Wagstaff brought the home team into striking distance. Then Dan Shergold put Ben Fryatt in to give Combe the lead and centre Kyan Braithwaite added another try.

But as the clock ticked down Old Albanians hit back with a rumble through the Combe defence, Lacey Mitchell scoring to make it 28-24.

But Park eased supporters nerves when prop Elliott Roofe finished a lineout drive in corner to seal the win.