Stewarts & Lloyds 22 Huntingdon Stags 20 STAGS put in a good performance against East Midlands finalists S&L, coming away ruing missed opportunities after a narrow defeat. S&L had the wind and slope advantage in the first half, and scored first. Fly-ha

Stewarts & Lloyds 22 Huntingdon Stags 20

STAGS put in a good performance against East Midlands finalists S&L, coming away ruing missed opportunities after a narrow defeat.

S&L had the wind and slope advantage in the first half, and scored first.

Fly-half Charlie Cook then set up Neil Welsh for a try and then converted to limit the deficit to three points at half-time, with the score 10-7.

Stags came out hard in the second half and soon levelled the scores with a Cook penalty.

The advantage Stags expected in the second half failed to materialise, however, as S&L upped their game, scoring an easy try through the forwards.

Centre Dale Abblitt replied for Huntingdon with a well-worked, converted try to put them 17-15 ahead but the home side replied with a try of their own soon after.

The final minutes saw Stags, whose scrum had been dominant all day, push for the winning score, but S&L held on to deny Huntingdon the win.

Stags face Northampton Mens Own a week on Saturday at home in their last game of the season.

St Neots 13 Aylestone Athletic 5

SAINTS put in a determined effort to defeat Aylestone in their final league match of the season, securing a third-place finish in the process.

With both teams fielding strong sides, the game was evenly matched and passionate throughout.

With the wind behind them, Saints stole possesion through their back row trio of MoM Selim Sheik, Phil Fernie and Peter Arnold but, despite gaining territory, they couldn't release their backs.

It was Aylestone who took the lead from a penalty, and the score remained 3-0 at the break.

A more focused Saints side began the second half, stifling Aylestone's attack with some suberb disrupting, especially from scrum-half Johnny Morris.

Unable to capitalise on the wind advantage, Aylestone conceded the first try as Tommy McColin powered over in the corner.

Saints looked in control from then on, Steve Gibson going over for his second soon after.

A Saints sin-binning saw them concede a try but they held on to take the points and finish their season on a high.

Sawston 17 St Neots III 17

IN their last league fixture of the season, St Neots took on a Sawston side away that they beat 72-7 earlier in the season.

Saints started well, putting Sawston under sustained pressure that paid-off when Dan Fox scored under the posts. James Fitch added the conversion.

Sawston came back at Saints, but the visitors weathered the storm and, after some slick handling, outside centre Ricky Beal powered over for a try.

The rest of the half saw the two sides defend solidly, with no further scores, leaving Saints 12-0 up at half-time.

Playing uphill and into the wind, the second half was tough for Saints.

Sawston pressured the St Neots line and eventually crossed for a try.

They then added two more tries, one converted, to take the lead with only 10 minutes left.

After MoM James Fitch made a try-saving tackle, he put Saints down into the Sawston half, where they stayed for the rest of the match.

A charged-down kick by Roger Arnold led to a Dan Fox try as Saints salvaged a draw with the last play of the game.