Sutton & Epsom continued their pursuit of London One South league leaders Wimbledon, and second placed Chobham, courtesy of a 27-12 victory over Twickenham at Rugby Lane on Saturday.

The bare facts of the match would indicate a straight-forward afternoon for the hosts who secured a bonus point victory by four tries to two.

In reality, Twickenham proved more than redoubtable opponents who squandered a number of opportunities to secure the match for themselves and thereby ease their relegation worries.

Two late tries from Steve Munford and Kyren Ghumra spared Sutton’s blushes.

In almost perfect conditions for Sutton’s expansive style of rugby, the hosts started in a very positive manner.

Sutton’s speedy back line was soon in action and following a move which swept the width of the pitch Andy Nichols showed fine football skills to kick ahead from 40 metres and he out sprinted his opposite number to cleanly gather the ball and crash over the try line.

With 20 minutes played the Sutton supporters sat back in eager expectation of more tries.

However Twickenham had other ideas and, in fact, they settled into their game more effectively than Sutton who seemed over eager and lacking in patience at times.

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The Twickenham defence was well organised and gave Sutton few opportunities, but on occasions when breaks did appear there was a tendency by Sutton to take a tackle rather than look for options to off load to wider runners.

Attempts by both teams to develop their own momentum were thwarted by the frequent stoppages for infringements when perhaps a more liberal interpretation of the advantage law by the referee would have allowed the game to develop.

Before half time Sutton declined the chance to add a penalty to their score when they opted to kick for position and the ensuing line out went astray.

The visitors on the other hand executed the perfect catch and drive in the dying minutes of the first half as second row Andy Puffet scored their first points which were converted by Dom Brown to provide Twickenham with a half time lead of 7-5.

With the quantity of possession that Twickenham enjoyed this was a fair reflection of matters.

Taking advantage of a stiffening breeze Steve Munford slotted a penalty for Sutton early in the second half when Twickenham strayed offside, again this lead to expectation of more points to follow sooner rather than later.

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Frustratingly a further 20 pointless minutes passed before Sutton declined another opportunity to take three points and on this occasion Frankie Murray found touch close to the Twickenham goal line.

Mike Blakeburn majestically gathered the line out and the pack trundled over the goal line with Raynn Bruce scoring the try.

To their credit, Twickenham continued to attack and on a couple of occasions only last ditch tackles prevented them scoring but with seven minutes remaining they scored their second try in the left hand corner after numerous phases of possession.

The conversion which would have given them a slender one point lead was missed, and a nerve jangling final few minutes lay in prospect.

With the visitors looking more likely to score again, the match turned on two individual pieces of outstanding play.

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Firstly Steve Munford exploited a gap in Twickenham’s defence around the fringes of a ruck to score unopposed from 30 metres which he duly converted and secondly in the dying seconds Kyren Ghumra showed his exceptional pace and ability by scoring from inside his own half and in the process weaving past at least half a dozen defenders.

Steve Munford duly obliged again with the conversion and in a period of four minutes Sutton had secured what had looked to be an unlikely bonus point success, leaving the visitors with nothing but pride for their impressive efforts.

They may escape the relegation trap door with more performances of this nature.

For Sutton this was a hard earned victory and the tight five certainly did more than their fair share of work in terms of ball carrying and tackling.

Matt Whitaker struggled with a foot injury for much of the game and his normally effervescent performance suffered accordingly.

Sutton’s next match is in two weeks’ time at league leaders Wimbledon - it promises to be an epic encounter.

On the one hand Wimbledon will be seeking revenge for their comprehensive defeat at Rugby Lane earlier this season whilst on the other Sutton & Epsom will need to win to maintain the pressure upon second placed Chobham who have a three point lead with four games remaining.

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