Alton boost their chances of London 3 survival after a tense win in south London.

Dreadful game, huge win for Alton. They now lie sixth and have opened up a 11-point gap between themselves and the relegation zone after seeing off third-bottom Old Wimbledonians at a gloomy Raynes Park.

If, as is expected, Wimbledonians are docked five points for failing to fulfil their fixture at Ellingham the week before, Alton will then be 14 points clear of the drop-zone and just about safe.

The rugby was as stodgy as the pitch. Full-blooded and packed with endeavour, yes, but disjointed, full of errors and just a little spiteful at times.

Though they threatened to self-destruct on more than one occasion, Alton showed the greater composure and warranted their victory. They also had the rub of the green as far as the refereeing decisions were concerned but overall they were the better, the more cohesive, side.

Two penalty tries, plus additional touchdowns from Adam Gill and Will Ford earned the bonus point while Jon Mountfield slotted four of his five kicks at goal to see Alton home without too many late scares.

Despite the result, injured captain Jimmy Gay concluded that this was Alton's worst performance of the season, even though they were missing six regulars and had to reshuffle the pack.

Wimbledonians have seen their playing resources depleted alarmingly after a strong start to the league campaign and this latest morale-sapping defeat may well have consigned them to Surrey One next year. They played the last 27 minutes with 14 after flanker Cormac Healy was sent off for a spear tackle on Mountfield and they regularly incurred the wrath of referee Andy Nicholson.

Nicholson got all the major calls right but was noticeably more lenient towards Alton, who might well have seen yellow one more than one occasion.

For all the mediocrity there were performances of real quality. Alton's first-up tackling was hugely improved, their back-row were far sharper at the fringes, and the latest half-back pairing - Mark Crowther and Mountfield - controlled the game adroitly. Once again, it was the besting runs of Shane Watts - this time stationed at inside centre rather than in the back row - and Will Ford that gave Alton most of their attacking momentum.

The home side struggled badly in the set-pieces but scrum-half Tom Harwood was quite superb behind a retreating scrum. The forwards scrapped manfully while out in the pastures, full-back Jamie Crone and centre Alex Horley showed plenty of go and enterprise with what little ball they had.

But the Old Boys spent most of the afternoon trying to contain Alton and that they were still in the game in the final quarter was due to the visitors' tendency to press the panic button at key moments.

Alton's brisk start earned them a 7-0 lead with barely two minutes on the clock.  They claimed the ball from kick-off, ran a few meaty phases before Mountfield ghosted down the blindside and sent wing Tim Salmon over in the corner. Wimbledonians' wing George Attipoe's despairing cover tackle was high and though he forced the Salmon to spill the ball, referee Nicholson awarded the penalty try.

Alton dominated the opening 30 minutes and should have been out of sight before half time but panicky execution led them to butcher three gilt-edged chances.

Predictably enough, Wimbledonians hit back and they briefly led after Matt Jones slotted a penalty and Horley sniffed out an interception on halfway and sprinted over.

But the hosts' lead lasted less than two minutes as Mountfield's penalty nudged Alton 10-8 ahead at the interval, and when referee Nicholson awarded a second penalty try after a Wimbledonians scrum buckled under their own posts, the visitors appeared to be in control.

However, following the red card Wimbledonians suddenly raised their game and after a driving maul, Harwood forced his way over.

Eventually, Alton nailed it when Callum Watkins latched onto a loose ball at the back of a Wimbledonians scrum, off-loaded to Ford and he worked Watts over - Watts then nonchalantly tossed the ball to a surprised Gill, who - to the relief of an edgy Alton support - caught it and touched down.

Ford rounded off the scoring late on, touchingk down after Alton drove Wimbledonians off another five-metre scrum and the visitors had their five points and a place in London 3 almost in the bag.

Old Wimbledonians: Crone; Neish, Horley, Lucas (c), Attipoe; Jones, Harwood; O'Reilly, Biss. D'Souza; Nicholson, Read; Healy, Bell, Duggan.

Tries: Horley (37), Harwood (63);
Penalty: Jones (36).

Red card: Healy (53);
Yellow cards: Healy, Bell.

Alton: Forsyth (c); O'Connor, Gill, Watts, Salmon (Spencer, 58); Happel, Parratt, Ovens; Oliphant, Greenhalgh; Gerlach, Carter (Watkins, 58), Ford.

Tries: Penalty tries (2, 46), Gill (69), Ford (78);
Conversions: Mountfield (3);
Penalty: Mountfield (40).

H-T: 8-10
Referee: Andy Nicholson (London Society)

- With thanks to OWRFC for additional information.

Other London 3SW results:

Ellingham & Ringwood 5 - 67 Camberley;


Fordingbridge P Old Wellingtonians;


Petersfield 8 - 22 Old Alleynians;

Sandown & Shanklin HWO London South Africa;


Winchester 15 - 24 Teddington.