Haywards Heath's rugby players made a losing start on their return to London 1 on Saturday as visiting Shelford proved the party poopers.
The 13-28 defeat was watched by a crowd of around 150, most of whom, like the players, would have been left pondering what might have been.
Although beaten, Heath were not overrun and with more discipline and precision they would have been challeng
ing for the points.
They made their task more difficult when both second rows spent separate 10-minute spells in the sin bin during the second half and the visitors took full advantage.
Heath were already trailing to a penalty before on 18 minutes Shelford increased their lead with a converted try from turnover ball.
Matt Jarrett pulled back three points but Shelford kept up the pressure with another try on the half hour. A second Jarrett penalty left Heath trailing 6-15 at the break.
Two tries in quick succession helped Shelford extend their lead to 22 points but Heath finally crossed their line after 72 minutes when they secured possession through a scrum and Rob Jackson was on hand to score. Jarrett converted and Heath, for the first time in the game, began to play with some cohesion.
As it started to look promising for a big finish, however, Heath lost scrum half Brendan Jones with a facial injury that will keep him out of the game for some time. This led to a hasty reshuffle but the damage was done and they were unable to recover their momentum.
Heath will take a few plusses from this game into the build-up for Saturday's trip to Old Albanians, who could well feel the backlash.
After this Heath have consecutive home games against Luton and Tring.
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