Chingford who were laying joint top of London North 1 at the start of the day welcomed Staines who were third in the table, and a team that had not conceded a single point during the month of November. It was a wet and blustery day, and after work was done on the pitch to get rid of the standing water, the much anticipated game went ahead. After only five minutes Chingford launched an attack, and from a bouncing ball Steve Hollis flicked the ball up to Donnagh Fitzgerald, who showed great pace, and put in the perfect pass for David Knight to step past the final defender to give Chingford the lead. Kurt Forward extended that when he added the conversion. Staines now put Chingford under serious pressure and the home team’s inability to clear their lines kept Staines deep in the Chingford 22. Eventually Chingford were penalised and Staines kicked a penalty. For the remaining 20 minutes Staines kept Chingford pinned in the 22, but fantastic defence kept the West London side out, and the score at half-time remain 7-3 to Chingford. Chingford now needed to reverse the play and keep the visitors pinned down in the muddy area close to their line, but it was Staines who used the kicking game better and they put on the early pressure. Chingford started to get back into the game, but were always playing too far away from the Staines try-line, and kicked aimlessly losing valuable field position. Staines eventually reduced the deficit to a single point with a penalty, and the game became a tense affair for both players, coaches and supporters. Chingford did have chances later on in the game, to score that all important try, but either the ball was too slow or the wrong option was taken, and the chance evaporated. With less than a minute on the clock, Chingford were awarded a penalty, and kicked deep into the corner, with the opportunity to score from the resulting lineout in the final play of the match. The ball was however lost and Staines attacked, and for the first time all game they broke through the strong home team’s defence, the ball kicked up field and Chingford bravely attempted to clear, only for Staines to regain the ball and score a heart breaking try, under the posts. With an easy conversion kicked Chingford once again felt the pain of not closing a game out, losing 7 – 13 in the final seconds. “That’s the first round of matches and we lie fourth in the table, losing 3 games, 2 in the final minutes. Today’s result was very disappointing; not keeping hold of the ball in the last play has now cost us in 2 games so we must learn from this. We know what we have to do for the final half of the season and need to get a good result away to Civil Service next Saturday” said Stefan Smith Chingford’s frustrated Coach.