HARBURY left it late to steal a 32-26 victory away at Keresley in the Midlands 4 West (South) division on Saturday.
The hosts led by a single point but in the dying minutes Harbury were awarded a penalty try and the successful conversion saw them snatch the win with a narrow six point margin.
It could have been an emphatic victory for Harbury had they continued the verve and style that they showed in the first half when they led 18-7 at the midway point thanks to two penalties by outside half Tony Gear and tries from Steve Alford and Dan Taylor.
After the break Harbury appeared to switch off and began conceding penalties and field position.
This created unnecessary pressure on the team and from a five metre scrum it was Keresley who pulled themselves back into the game to add a converted try and reduce the gap to four points.
Harbury came out of their shell and a fine break by Gear, enabled centre Daz Kittendorf to take the ball at pace, draw his man and pass to the supporting Alford who crossed for his second try. The conversion was added and the visitors once more established an 11 point gap.
Once again Harbury penalised and on this occasion not only yielded field position but also a player to the sin bin.
The hosts capitalised on this and from a promising line out drew the cover and crossed for a simple try beneath the posts. The conversion added the deficit was once more four points.
A break down the blindside by the Keresley centre looked to be a certain try but a superb tackle took the player into touch. The referee adjudged the tackle high and Harbury were reduced to 13 men with ten minutes play left.
Keresley operating in the red zone moved the ball wide, exposed the lack of cover and touched down wide out to give then a one point lead.
Harbury were restored to 14 with five minutes of play remaining. In their urgency to compete the visitors took the game to their hosts and they were awarded a penalty 40 metres out but choose to take the goal kick – it drifted wide but from the resulting clearance possession returned to Harbury at the line out.
Keresley continued to concede penalties and the outcome of which was a disaster for the hosts as they conceded a penalty try late on.
