THERE was a mixed bag for a trio of Stags youth teams who returned to action at the weekend.

THERE was a mixed bag for a trio of Stags youth teams who returned to action at the weekend.

The U14s earned themselves a hard-fought 12-5 victory over Shelford at the Racecourse.

Shelford broke the deadlock with the first try of the match after pressure from a lineout close to the Huntingdon line, although the conversion attempt dropped short.

Huntingdon soon levelled matters after an excellent passage of play. Prop Xavier Parker broke Shelford’s line with a powerful run, offloading in the tackle to fly-half George Furbank, who then managed to get the ball wide to centre Jon Petch, and he drove over for the try.

However Furbank’s attempt at the conversion drifted wide.

But, just as it looked like the game was going to end in a draw, another Huntingdon attack saw Stags lock Bob Stocker fight over the line for the winning try, with Furbank nailing the extras.

Meanwhile the U15s tasted disappointment as they went down 10-0 at Kettering.

The U16s also lost, although they did at least register points in their 17-5 home defeat by Cambridge.

It was Stags who started the better of the two sides and took the lead early on.

The ball was spun out wide from a ruck for Barney West to go over for an unconverted try, superbly standing his man up and then outpacing him out wide.

Stags always looked threatening through their centres but wasted a couple of chances with the ball not going to hand.

Shaun Gomez and Liam Findlay were also prominent but an unconverted Cambridge try levelled the game up 5-5 at the break.

The visitors’ pressure finally told in the second half, as they crashed over following two good phases to take the lead with a converted try, before a late unconverted score for Cambridge settled matters.