This may have been a lower half of the table clash but it was very fiercely contested.

Overton have three losing bonus points this season and they proved to their visitors how they won these. The bigger home forwards caused Alton's pack quite a few problems all afternoon, especially in the tight where they were dominant. Alton's strength was in the backs but poor handling and ball retention let them down.

Although Alton had most of the game in the first ten minutes they failed to get out of their own half. A penalty for a high tackle against Overton finally gave Alton pitch advantage, but a poor line out allowed the hosts to break free, Alton halted the advance and the first quarter ended with the match centred on the half way line.

Overton gave away a number of penalties but playing in a very strong wind meant that "pots" at goal were not normally on the agenda. On thirtyfive minutes Overton's backs broke free, a try looked fairly certain, but the ball was kicked from hand fifteen metres out from the goal line and Alton gratefully accepted the opportunity to clear.

Alton took on the mantle of attack, driven by scrum-half Mark James Heffernan. Bart van Herwijnen was stopped by a last ditch tackle in the corner. From the restart Overton pressed again, Simon Ford, who is beginning to find his form when kicking from hand, relieved the pressure with a number of good clearances. Overton again attacked and this time it was van Herwijnen's turn to put in a last ditch tackle in the corner. At half-time the score was 0 - 0.

Six minutes into the second half, full back Tom Willis with one of his trademark runs broke through, but he unfortunately kicked away the possession.  Alton's backs began to gain confidence and made more good breaks only for the ball to be dropped. Eventually the deadlock was broken when Alton were awarded a penalty for offside and Ford, kicking into the teeth of the gale guided the ball over the bar.

The pressure on the home defence mounted with another break and then a charge down by van Herwijnen, with Overton eventually being penalised for being offside. Ford repeated his earlier success.

Overton remained competitive to the end, with both teams looking exhausted and relieved when the final whistle blew.

Alton can now relax over Christmas with a rest from league action until 4^th January 2014 when Solent University, currently lying second in the league, visit Anstey Park. Kick-off is at 14:15.