For a second straight week Raiders reached out for victory in the closing stages away from home, but yet again had to settle for a consolation losing bonus point. On the face of it another loss could be seen as a big disappointment, but thanks to results elsewhere it turned out to be something of a minor positive in the quest for a top-five finish in National Three London & SE.

With Shelford taking a walloping at the hands of Sutton & Epsom and Dorking going down at home to Westcombe Park, we opened the gap between ourselves and Shelford to seven points. As was the case when the two sides met at Footes Lane in the autumn, there was little between them and it turned into a hard slog in wintry conditions.

This well drilled Hertford team attacked with vigour in the first quarter of the game, putting the away team under a lot of pressure which produced a 11-0 lead.
The hosts got on the scoreboard early, with Ben Lloyd kicking a penalty in the second minute. They continued to make a fast start and were rewarded for the excellent ball retention and ambitious play as Mike Allen went over in the left corner after some great hands between Lloyd, Lewis Hett and Stuart Smart. The conversion was missed, but Lloyd made no mistake with a penalty shortly afterwards to put Hertford 11-0 ahead.
Raiders needed to respond quickly and they did.

With the slope in their favour, Raiders’ forays into the Hertford half started to produce some dividends. On 23 minutes Raiders put the Hertford pack under pressure at the scrum forcing an error. The loose ball was bounced on by Nick Merrien and after the ball flew through the visiting backs Callum Gladstone out paced his opposite winger for a try in the corner, his second score in successive weeks. Owen Thomas slotted home the conversion from the side line and it was 11-7 before it got even better for the visitors.
A penalty conceded by Hertford resulted in a kick to the corner for a lineout.

A sustained traditional catch and drive move from the Guernsey pack eventually resulted with skipper Lewis Hillier driving his way over the line for fine forwards try. This time it was an easier conversion for Owen Thomas and we were 14-11 ahead at half-time. The second saw started with Hertford attacking with gusto. Five minutes in they missed an easy penalty but were rewarded with a penalty try soon after when their pack forced its way towards the Raiders line from a catch and drive of their own.

With the easy conversion under the posts Hertford regained the lead at 18-14. Both defences then gained the upper hand but a rare Raiders drive into the Hertford half resulted in a Owen Thomas penalty and the margin was back down to one. Game on.
Twenty minutes from the end Hertford's centre burst through the Raiders defence for another try, but with the conversion missed it was only 23-17 and a converted try would put us back in front. Sadly, that never happened.

With seven minutes left Raiders knocked on to allow the Hertford backs to stretch their legs for a fine try in the corner. Again the conversion was missed but with a nine-point buffer the game looked fairly safe for the side sitting fourth in the league.

Raiders rallied and drove their way into the Hertford half, sniffing a losing bonus point.
Malcolm Barnes was sent on a run to the try line where he was high tackled just short.
Raiders were duly awarded a penalty try of their own which with Owen’s successful kick brought us to within four. Hertford were worried and in the closing moments had to defend brilliantly, seeing off phase after phase of Guernsey's pick and go attacks before the visitors finally coughed up the ball and the whistle went.

Hertford skipper Josh Corcoran paid tribute to the losers afterwards, ‘Guernsey's always a tough game with a lot of physicality. There's never much in it and it's a great game to play in – it always comes down to who has the most energy and we had that in the end.’

More reaction from our end to follow, plus news of that brilliant 10-5 win for the Ladies over Lewes, a result which may well be enough to secure the South East South One title.