Sutton & Epsom snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in their London Division One South opener at home to Guildford last weekend.

With less than five minutes of the game remaining, Sutton held a comfortable 12-point lead and had almost grabbed a bonus point fourth try.

However, after full back Ian Knott had hobbled off with a knee injury, the Sutton defence, which had been resolute all afternoon, imploded and Guildford helped themselves to two converted tries to seal an unlikely 26-24 victory.

Sutton’s lead had come courtesy of three second half tries after a nervy first half, where the visitors held a slight edge courtesy of three penalties from full back Jarrod Adam to one from Sutton’s Steve Munford.

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Raynn Bruce

Sutton initially struggled to find their rhythm with hooker James Bennett’s normally accurate throwing off target, and the visitors holding the upper hand in the scrum. A half time score of 9-3 to the visitors was a fair reflection of the proceedings.

Sutton raised the intensity of their game in the second half and Craig Bellringer’s introduction in the front row had an almost immediate impact by adding power to the forwards.

From a line out on the Guildford 22 metre line, Sutton established a driving maul which crossed over the goal line and Bennett picked himself from the floor with the ball in his hand. Munford added the conversion to give Sutton the lead for the first time.

Confidence radiated back in to Sutton’s performance, Munford’s excellent box kicks provided a ready target for the speedy Sutton backs but it was Guildford who regained the lead from another Jarrod Adam penalty on the hour to lead 12-10.

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Held up: Andy Matthews

However, following a long kick ahead by winger James Matthews, at the ensuing ruck the Guildford hooker was sent to the sin bin and Sutton took their opportunity with the numerical advantage.

Teenage winger Kyren Ghumra beat three Guildford defenders and his kick ahead was hacked forward by Pete Matthews who just managed to touch the ball down before it bounced out of play.

Munford landed an excellent conversion from the right hand touchline to put Sutton’s noses back in front by five points.

Minutes later Pete Matthews’ brother, Andy, kicked the ball ahead from just within the Guildford half, he outpaced the Guildford defence to score close to the posts and with Munford adding another conversion a Sutton victory seemed assured.

Guildford’s persistence was rewarded with the two tries in the dying minutes of the game when they twice exposed the left hand side of the Sutton defence to score.

On both occasions Adam kicked the conversions to give him a perfect afternoon from the kicking tee, and secure a narrow victory for Guildford.

This Saturday, Sutton travel to their closest rivals Cobham at Fairmile Lane for a 3pm kick-off.

Team: Ian Knott, Kyren Ghumra, Andy Matthews, Pete Matthews, James Matthews, Frankie Murray, Steve Munford, Tariq Al Khaldi, James Bennett, Raynn Bruce, Jason Ford, Dave Crowest, Joe Ridgley, George London, James Caddy (captain).

Replacements: Dave Weller, Luke Mason, Craig Bellringer.

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Dave Crowest

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Guy Stuckey-Clarke

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James Matthews

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Ian Knott

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Steve Munford