Manor travelled to Harpenden this week, a team that were still in the hunt for promotion. Although Manors hopes of promotion had all but gone, they were determined to give a good account of themselves. As it transpired Manor suffered an agonising defeat when after have lead for most of the match and when down to 14 men due to injury Harpenden scored in the 15 minutes of time added on to take the spoils from a hard fought even contest.

Manor kicked off the game but it was their hosts who had the better of the early exchanges, in fact most of the play took place inside Manor’s half, but hard as Harpenden tried, they couldn’t break through Manor’s well marshalled defence but a high tackle soon gave the hosts the opportunity to put the first points on the board, which they did from a penalty kick at goal, after 3 minutes Manor trailed 0 – 3.

Harpenden continued to have the upper hand in terms of territory and possession but It was Manor who scored the first try of the game, Harpenden looked to attack from inside their half but good Manor tackling gradually pushed them backwards. With a change of tactic, they then tried to kick out of hand but Jesses Liston managed to charge the kick down, Jake Kane reacted the quickest and gathered up the bouncing ball and from 35 meters out, sprinted to the line to score Manors first points. Without a recognised kicker playing, Aaron Lowe took on the responsibilities and was just wide with his first attempt. With 24 minutes played Manor now lead 3 – 5.

Manor were now in the ascendency with some good hard running by their forwards which was causing Harpenden problems in defending and they gave away a number of penalties. Manor kept up the pressure by kicking for an attacking lineout inside Harpenden’s 22. The lineout was a bit of a mess but Jack Scorer secured the ball and drove forward until brought to ground, Manor then picked and drove a couple of times before the ball was moved out to their backline, as it was moved through the hands Lowe spotted a gap between two defenders, he broke through their attempted tackles and raced over the line for Manors second try, which he also converted, 3 – 12 after 30 minutes of the first half.
It was now Harpenden’s turn to attack and put pressure on Manors defences and with Manor giving away a series of penalties Harpenden soon found themselves inside Manors 22 with an attacking lineout. Here they secured their throw in and after a couple of forward drives went over the line for their first try of the match, although unconverted they had reduced the deficit to 8 – 12 after 38 minutes.

Manor re-started the game and competed for the ball where Ire Onabajo won the kick off allowing Manor to drive into Harpenden’s defensive line, but poor ball retention saw the ball knocked on, Harpenden then attacked Manor but good defence soon saw the ball dislodged from a Harpenden ball carrier. Toto Odulaja gathered the loose ball and after a darting run drew a defender and passed to the supporting Scorer who had the pace to outsprint the covering defenders and go over for another Manor try. With Lowe successful with the conversion attempt Manor had increased their lead to 8 – 18 with the first half deep into injury time.

There was still time for both teams to have a short period of time in attack but the half eventually came to a close. Although Manor held a lead they would have to play the second half without their livewire scrum half Odulaja who was injured during the last play of the game.

Harpenden kicked off the second half where both sides enjoyed periods of attacking play. Manor were looking dangerous with ball in hand with some powerful running from Dave Ogufere, BJ Tunde and Frank Sullivan. Their backs were also looking sharp where Lloyd Anderson and substitute Christian Squire showed their pace in attack and a flowing move from deep inside their own half saw forwards and backs combine until winger Jordan Sullivan-Warner was put into space but when he looked as though he had outpaced the defence to score the ref blew for an earlier infringement and Manor were denied a try.

Manors next score came as the result of a penalty which they won after dismantling Harpenden’s scrum. Lowe kicked deep into the oppositions 22 for an attacking lineout. Liston won the throw in and Manor set up an unstoppable drive over the line where Ogufere was credited with the score. The conversion was missed but as a result of scoring their bonus point try Manor had stretched their lead to 8 - 24 after 10 minutes of the second half.

Harpenden now came back at Manor and they soon had an advantage when Liston was yellow carded for cumulative team offences. Their next score came from a rolling maul at an attacking lineout where they went over from close range, with the conversion missed they had closed the gap on the scoreboard to 13 – 24 after 20 minutes.

Manors cause was further hampered when Elliott Brown, who had taken over at scrum half was injured and had to leave the field meaning Manor had to re-shuffle their team and move a forward out into the backline which allowed flyhalf Kane to move into scrumhalf.

Harpenden continued to take advantage of their extra man and soon went over for another converted try which they converted to bring the score to 20 -24 after 30 minutes of play.

With Manor back to full strength they went back on the attack and it was Harpenden’s turn to give away a couple of penalties. Manor remained patient and worked their way into the hosts 22 where after a series of forward drives, the ball was moved quickly out wide to Squire who used his pace to get close to the line before diving over and scoring in the corner. The difficult conversion attempt was missed but with 35 minutes played they held a 20 - 29 lead.

Harpenden again upped the tempo and put Manor under pressure deep inside their 22, although Manor defended well. Unfortunately, Manor lost Ogufere and Sullivan to injury and with all fit subs already used Manor were down to 14 men.

Again Harpenden took advantage of their numerical superiority and worked through a number of phases of play before going over the line for a converted try. With the game deep into injury time Harpenden now trailed 27 – 29.

Now believing they could snatch a victory, Harpenden continued to attack Manor, who defended as well as they could. The game entered its 14th minute of time added on for second half stoppages when Harpenden finally breached Manors tiring defence to go over in the corner for their match winning try. Unconverted they now lead for the first time since the 24th minute of the match, 32 – 29.

With time to restart the game Manor valiantly tried to attack Harpenden but a knock on finally ended their hopes with the ref blowing for time with 55 minutes on the second half clock.

Although the result was more important to Harpenden for their promotion prospect, the Manor players were visibly shattered after the game believing that it was a game that they could of and possibly should have won.