Alton duly maintained their positive start in Hampshire 1 with victory over a well-organised, fiercely committed but limited Millbrook side at Anstey Park but, boy, did they have to scrap for it.

This was a scruffy, stop-start affair - a tale of 37 scrums and 35 penalties - and though Alton had more pace and were more constructive in attack, they had few opportunities to send the ball wide and run the visitors off their feet.

It was not pretty - more of a bar-room brawl than a championship fight - and Alton will gratefully accept two hard-earned points. But it was telling that the final whistle was greeted with little joy by the victorious side.

The elements certainly did not help anyone's cause - a spiteful wind blowing diagonally from corner to corner promised a game of two halves, although Alton's opening salvo hinted that the blustery conditions would not inconvenience them one bit.

Typically, Alton flew out of the blocks and took the lead on eight minutes when Winston Carter took a quick tap-penalty four yards from the Millbrook line, fed James Gay on the charge and the prop plunged over.

Earlier, both men had gone close in a rousing opening: Carter had a try disallowed in the right-hand corner after he was adjudged to have knocked on, and Gay appeared to have opened the scoring but was denied after grounding the ball just short of the line.

However, the wind, which was strongly in the visitors' favour in the first period, began to exert its influence and Alton found themselves pinned inside their own territory for the next half-hour as Millbrook's forwards set about their task.

Millbrook, sporting a heavy, experienced and well-drilled eight bombarded their hosts' line with waves of rolling mauls and forward drives, and they went close on a number of occasions.

Alton somehow kept the visitors out after they driven over their own line at a five-metre scrum and on the 25-minute mark, number eight Mike Mulcahy spurned a golden opportunity when, just ten yards from the line, he passed to the spectators rather than one of his two unmarked team-mates outside him.

Alton appeared to have weathered the storm - in both senses - but, two minutes from the interval, it was honours even after the visitors produced a try from out of the blue.

Millbrook caught Alton cold when, uncharacteristically, they sent the ball wide from a tap-penalty; outside-centre Luke Campbell found himself in the clear and he sprinted over from 40 yards.

All-square at the interval, but Alton regrouped and rediscovered their mojo immediately after the restart.

A half-break from Steve Ott set up quick ruck ball on the visitors' 22 and when the ball fed wide to Jason Rees, the centre expertly drew two defenders before flipping the ball to Bruce Oliphant on the overlap. The wing sauntered over in the right-hand corner, Ott converted splendidly from wide out and Alton had their noses back in front.

But, as with Millbrook in the first half, Alton enjoyed much wind-assisted territory and bags of possession but they could not find their rhythm.

Maybe their karma was not quite right: there were handling errors aplenty, forward passes and the penalty-count - 17 conceded - tells its own story.

The home supporters' spirits were lifted, however, when a well-worked try in the 74th minute secured the points after Alton managed to string a few coherent phases together.

Gay once again smashed another hole in the midfield after charges by Rees and Ott had worked Alton into the Millbrook 22, and the prop's adroit off-load out of the tackle fed scrum-half Jason Grace, who burrowed his way over.

Ott converted easily and Alton nearly rounded the game off in style when a sweeping sixty-yard counter-attack made a fourth try inevitable, but the ball was knocked on a yard from the Millbrook line.

It was that sort of day.

But two points mean that Alton lie second in the Hampshire 1 table and they travel to Burnaby Road to face US Portsmouth on 4 November in good cheer.

In the meantime, they face a tricky assignment at the Isle of Wight in the second round of the EDF Energy Cup.

Alton: J Smith (B Wallace 63); B Oliphant, J Rees, A Davies, D Forsyth; S Ott, J Grace; S Watts, L Parratt (c), N Bear; M Greenhalgh, R White; S Jones, W Carter, M Forsyth. Subs (not used): E Ross, A Willman.

Tries: Gay, Oliphant, Grace. Conversions: Ott (2).

Millbrook: S Coffin; J Gradage, L Campbell, Lee Davie, M Phippard; W Renwick, A Griffin; C Watkins, R Goodridge, D Vincent; D Moore, J Frampton; A Day, D Weaver, M Mulcahy.

Try: Campbell.

Referee: Tony Scott (Hampshire Referees' Society).