Old Streetonians top London III North West after Haringey victory

Old Streetonians reclaimed top spot in the London III North West league on Saturday, after a tense encounter with a resurgent Haringey side.

Haringey scored an early penalty and then raced into a 10-0 lead.

Andy Dunn eventually found a gap after the break, and glided over to make it 10-7.

Nick Barham soon followed with another in the left corner, again after strong running and a good offload from the flu-stricken Goss. The angle was too wide for the kick, however, and Street took a two-point advantage into the break.

The pack began to enforce their dominance at the scrum in the second half. A fearsome front row of Perkins, O'Shea and Donohoe were hurting their opposition, leaving Paddy Gibson to cause havoc from the back.

The sides traded two missed penalties each, before Perry finished a good supporting run on his opposite wing to finish a set move from a scrum.

The kick was good, and Street had a nine-point cushion, with 15 minutes remaining.

But Haringey kept coming, and after some more weak tackling in midfield, were allowed to make 70 metres to the Street line.

Dan Massie, continuing his solid form at full back, made the last tackle, but was deemed to have held on to the player too long, and with it being in the 'red zone' the referee had no option, but to produce the yellow card.

Haringey crashed over from the resultant penalty, with some slack tackling from the front row this time. But again, even with a change of kicker, they could not convert from in front of the posts.

A tense last few minutes in this four-point game saw chances for both sides to take points, but Street remained calm under pressure and took another big step on their way to the league title.

Street are now top the league by one point, and have a game in hand on their closest rivals West London.

They now need only win three of their remaining four games to secure their second title and third promotion, in three seasons.