Wimbledon 29 – 29 Havant
A try in the last few minutes secured Wimbledon a dramatic two points as they held Havant at Hook’s Lane.
Two tries from Bryan Croke and another from Campbell Tait had kept Wimbledon in contention, but they will be indebted to James Gillespie whom provided the late heroics.
It keeps Wimbledon in touch with league leaders Sidcup but they were made to struggle by a well organised opponent in Havant.
Havant had the better of the opening exchanges and took the lead through an exquisite try from fly-half Dave Sweeney.
Havant continued to dominate but Wimbledon hit back through lock Tait who avoided a string of tackles to score.
The game was nicely poised but Havant scored two tries either side of half-time to extend their lead. Centre Grant Morris rounded off a good move, while Loz Warren-West profited from quick offloading to finish off a good move.
Havant were making a mockery of their league position keeping Wimbledon at bay until they rallied through two tries from Croke.
The first was down to great work from scrum half Charlie Morgan as his quickly tapped penalty allowed the powerful outside half to score.
The second came as a result of a re-energised pack, whose powerful driving maul gained the visitors some valuable yards. Quick ball from the breakdown then saw Croke jink through to score again.
Wimbledon were edging towards an unlikely victory but with less than ten minutes remaining Joel Knight had scored with what he thought would be the winning try.
With time running out Wimbledon laid siege on Havant’s try line. Consistent pressure finally told as Gillespie profited from a charge down to score a try in the dying moments.
Wimbledon will look to close the gap on League One South leaders Sidcup when they host Chobham next week.
