Shelford on the up on Regional 1 South East after narrow home victory over Harpenden

Shelford’s artificial playing surface helped them to get the better of the freezing conditions and visiting Harpenden last weekend.

It turned out to be a very closely-fought encounter at The Davey Field before Shelford edged out the away side 20-19 to move into second place in the Regional 1 South East standings.

Harpenden were seven points to the good inside the first couple of minutes courtesy of a converted try but Shelford drew level when Jim Adamson went over and Lewis Cracknell made no mistake with the extras.

Adamson doubled his try return in the 20th minute to put Shelford in front for the first time, with their lead duly being extended three minutes before the break after some good handling from James Nicholls set Louie Tang free down the left flank and he sped away from the opposition to dot down.

On the stroke of half-time a penalty from Cracknell made it 20-7 in Shelford’s favour, but to Harpenden’s credit they rallied after the restart, firstly through an unconverted try in the 47th minute.

They scored another try – this time converted – to bring themselves to within a point, but the hosts held out during the final 10 minutes to secure a ninth win from 13 outings this term.

Shelford will sign off for the year at sixth-placed Bedford Athletic on Saturday (December 17).

Meanwhile, on the same day Shelford II will host Cantabrigian in a Counties 1 Eastern Counties encounter.