ALTON 27pts

SOUTHAMPTON 28pts

DESPITE a number of last week’s side being unavailable, mainly through injury, the club showed that they are beginning to recover their strength in depth when they just failed to grab a victory against old rivals Southampton.

Once again the weather belied the time of year and inside three minutes into the game Alton were five points in front when Number 8 George Damien charged off the back of a scrummage and demolished anyone who got in his way to score close to the posts. Unfortunately the conversion attempt was missed.

Seven minutes later Alton right winger Alex Hayward took inspiration from Damien when he attacked with a curving run out on the right, only to be tackled a couple of metres short.

The next few minutes were a little frenetic with Alton attacking hard but failing to control the ball in the tackle, and Southampton putting in a number of good positional kicks. Alton were penalised for offside during this period. It was a kickable penalty but the visitng kicker was wide of the mark.

On 25 minutes Alton knocked on close to the halfway line. A clean heel allowed Southampton to release their good set of backs and swift and sure handling gave them a converted try and a 7-5 lead.

Southampton realised that Alton were a little vulnerable in defence and repeated the move on 30 minutes with the same outcome, stretching the lead to 14-5.

In the recent past Alton’s heads may have gone down, but not this afternoon and within two minutes they added a second try when, following a lineout, the ball was moved down the backs for Hayward to use his weight and power to score out on the right and cut the deficit to 14-10, with Simon Ford’s conversion attempt just scraping the wrong side of the upright.

Southampton came back at Alton but were deemed to have knocked on. This was verbally disputed, leaving the referee no option but to award a penalty. Ford skilfully put the ball into touch a few metres out and a short throw in allowed the pack to form up and they drove Bruce Oliphant over to give the home side the lead at 15-14.

Early in the second half Alton’s defence held up the visitors just short of the line and with the occasional respite of an Alton breakout often failing because of poor ball handling and retention. Seventeen minutes into the half Southampton finally broke through when a loose heel from an Alton put-in to a scrum was capitalised on. The try was again converted and suddenly Alton trailed 21-15. Three minutes later soft tackling allowed a further seven points courtesy of a converted try and the lead was stretched to 28-15.

The remaining quarter was all Alton’s as they reverted to the strength of their forwards, which was helped by a Southampton player being yellow carded for a high tackle. And Alton’s pressure was finally rewarded when from the resultant penalty the pack drove over the line, flanker Winston Carter claiming the try. Ford converted to get back within six at 28-22.

Alton could now see a possible positive result and on the stroke of full time Carter again crashed over, but the conversion attempt was too far out for Ford and Alton ended a point short.

So in spite of outscoring Southampton by five tries to four Alton couldn’t convert enough, but Alton did earn the compensation of two bonus points – one losing bonus for finishing within seven points of the winners and one for scoring four or more tries.