Old Mid-Whitgiftian had only themselves to blame for their second defeat of the season when they went down at Sanderstead to visitors Old Wellingtonians.

This after they got off to a cracking start scoring two fine tries in the first ten minutes in spite of being a man short.

First a midfield break by prop Sam House was well supported by Matt Hoyles who fed centre Andy Dean for the score.

A few minutes later it was Hoyles who made the break handling to full back Richard Westerman who streaked over. Neither try was converted, something Old Mids were later to me.

Old Wellingtonians themselves missed a penalty from in front but a couple of minutes later a good Mids attacking move broke down with a wild pass which the visitors pounced on for Robbie Thomas to score from their own half, John Douglas converting.

Ten minutes later Wellingtonians went ahead when fly half Digwood ran through a feeble Mids defence to score from forty metres out, Douglas converting again.

Weak tackling by the home side was again at fault as Wellingtonians scrum half Jackson finished a sustained passing movement with a third try also converted by Douglas.

After their teams blistering start the home supporters could scarcely believe the 10-21 half time score.

Territorially Old Mids had much the better of the second half but just couldn’t convert the many scoring chances they created, camping on the Wellingtonians line for long periods without finishing the job.

Much against the run of play the visitors were next to score, turning over the ball in a ruck in their own half for Steve Brownrigg to give the scoring pass to Ed Calson who ran in virtually unopposed. Douglas added the conversion.

Old Mids most potent runner was full back Westerman who more than once ran through half the opposition before being downed.

But Mids got back into the game with their own third try form a crash drive through the middle by Andy Dean, fly half Matt Hoyles converting. Hoyles then fluffed a penalty from in the front of the posts before completing the scoring with another penalty.

With twenty minutes still to go and all the momentum Mids should have closed the gap but poor finishing added to their earlier fragile defence left Wellingtonians the winners. So for Old Mids it was a second game that had got away.