OLD Halesonians claimed a narrow victory away at rivals Sutton Coldfield last Saturday.

Hales have not seen victory at Sutton for many years at first team level but came out on top 18-17.

They were boosted with the return of skipper Rich Taylor at prop and player/coach Mark Evans at number eight.

From kick off, Hales boys dominated play to such an extent that for fully 25 minutes Sutton didn't enter the visitors' half. But as has been the case this season, despite numerous chances to punish sides, the finishing was not good enough.

After 14 minutes of Hales pressure Sutton gave a penalty away which Chris Hooper converted for a 3-0 lead. It seemed like the game was only going one way, until on 30 minutes, following several missed tackles inside the Hales half, Sutton managed to break clear and score a very good try through their backs for a 7-3 lead.

The remaining ten minutes of the first half saw Sutton take control around the fringes, causing Hales to defend constantly to keep the deficit to four.

The second half continued with a confident Sutton having the upper hand in the scrum. A Hales line out saw the freakish wind gift the ball to the home side who fed the backs for the outside centre to score with little opposition.

To their credit, Hales came straight back when centre Carl Robinson picked up just inside his own half and cut through the home defence and putting wing Luke Smith away for a deserved unconverted try.

Another five minutes of Sutton pressure saw them once again take the initiative with a third try and a lead of 17 - 8. Hales were at a low and needed to find some initiative to get back in touch.

Hales pack, although under pressure, fought hard to steady the ship. On 54 minutes they built the pressure with a line out driving maul, up to the Sutton 22 where Mark Evans picked up and raced through untouched for a try against his former club. This put Hales hot on the heels of a tiring Sutton team who led 17 - 13 with 15 minutes remaining.

Both crowd and teams were visibly nervous trying to make a breakthrough. On 74 minutes Hales won a scrum on the Sutton 22 metre line. Scrum half Nathan Jones to Gareth Bown at fly half, a pass to centre Carl Robinson, all expected a characteristic sprint through the defence.

Robinson had another idea, he chipped the ball towards the wing where Warren Oliver timed his run perfectly to collect, hand off his opposite man for a sublime deciding try.

Team manager Simon Hussey said: "We have not won at Sutton for many years at this level. The result by far outshines our performance but we showed great character in pinching this at the death.

"Second placed Peterborough Lions bring a different challenge to Wassell Grove this weekend, we need to improve our set scrum and deal with our continuing endless penalty count."