Welwyn 1st XV vs Barnet Elizabethans Saracens Match report

WELWYN battled back to win Saturday's derby against Barnet Saracens Elizabethans.

After suffering their first London Three North West defeat of the season at Tring last week, Welwyn chalked up their third victory of the season at Handside over old foes Barnet having been 20-13 down at one stage.

Welwyn basically fielded the side that narrowly lost to Tring with two significant changes.

Scrum-half Mark Cullen was promoted to captain and he had a new half back partner in Luke Williams.

Barnet kicked off and were immediately rebuffed by a Welwyn attack which saw a wasted opportunity when unmarked winger James Turnbull was ignored, as the ball barrier turned inside into defenders.

The Welwyn forwards kept Barnet pinned in their own 22 for much of the first half. This pressure resulted in a penalty to Welwyn, which Gareth Hughes narrowly missed.

Welwyn continued to dominate possession and territory and Turnbull almost scored in the corner. However, it was the visitors who opened the scoring. Hughes was forced into a hurried clearance kick on his own line which gifted a simply converted try to the visitors.

The Welwyn player partly redeemed himself with a penalty before half-time to make it 7-3 to Barnet. Coach Peter Engledow's half-time pep talk had an immediate effect and the home side were soon 10-7 ahead.

From the kick off Welwyn moved the ball swiftly out to Turnbull, who received the ball on the 22 line. The winger ran on a diagonal course to score a try under the posts, making the conversion a formality for Hughes.

Another Hughes penalty increased Welwyn's lead soon after, before Barnet hit back with three points of their own.

Barnet were clearly determined to go for their first win of the season and took the game to Welwyn, but had two players yellow-carded and sin-binned within a few minutes of each other.

Welwyn brought on substitutes Austen Cox, Martin Cannon and Ed Knapp and attacked the depleted Barnet line. However, a poor pass from Cullen was intercepted by the Barnet winger, who ran the length of the field for a try under the posts and a 17-13 lead.

To add insult to injury, Barnet, still down to 13 men, then dropped a goal to increase their lead to seven points.

Realising the gravity of the situation, Welwyn hit back and Alex Cross almost went over in the corner. The ball was recycled to Williams, who scored a try converted by Hughes to level things.

Welwyn snatched victory when the ball was worked out to Kyle Birkin and he scored in the corner.