For their last away league fixture of the season, Brentwood headed to west London to take on Belsize Park having run out 26-17 winners at King George’s in December. With injuries and unavailability but also some returnees there were another eight changes to Brentwood’s match day 18 this week; Matt Whaley came into the second row in place of James Killington, James Vogel returned to captain the team from blindside with George Bassenger joining him on the openside flank and Jack Mayes rotating to the bench. In the backs Colby Dobson moved to scrum half, Joe Gill returned to the left wing and Jake Harcourt slotted in at outside centre; on the right wing there was a first team debut for colt Alex Brownfield and Ewan May avoided any more stitches in the warm-up to return at fullback.

Belsize Park play their home fixtures in Regent’s Park until the end of March, after which they have to find an alternative venue which this week was Chiswick Rugby Club. As the usual suspects of Brentwood's travelling support arrived and admired the nice 4G pitch gleaming in the sun there were murmurings that this should be a good game...except of course Brentwood were actually playing on what appeared to be the minis pitch in a windswept corner a small trek away.

Having changed into their match kit on the touchline, the game kicked off and Brentwood took out their frustrations in the early exchanges. Fraser Parris continued from where he'd left off last week, making yards through the middle whenever he got the ball and Brentwood were unfortunate not to take the lead within 3 minutes when a penalty attempt narrowly missed. With Toby Tierney and Dan Suttle also prominent Brentwood continued to pile on the pressure, forcing Belsize Park into conceding a myriad of penalties. Brentwood though just couldn't seem to find the same ruthless streak they had the week prior, a crucial knock on here and an awry pass there leaving them with nothing to show for their endeavours.

In spite of all the play taking place in Belsize Park's half, it took nearly 20 minutes for Brentwood to finally get some points on the scoreboard. Another attack had broken down at a crucial moment but in trying to clear the ball there was some confusion amongst Belsize Park and they were deemed to be accidentally offside, gifting Brentwood a scrum 5 metres out. Toby Tierney carried strongly off the back and with a few bodies required to halt his momentum the ball was recycled quickly to Jamie Cox who spied a gap in the defence to dive through for the try. In keeping with the day, the conversion was charged down…0-5 Brentwood.

Brentwood continued in the same vein for another 10 minutes, dominant in both possession and territory - prop Terry Snooks even pulled some fancy footwork out of the locker, but it was to no avail as Brentwood toiled but could not capitalise. In the end, it took some individual magic for Brentwood to extend their lead, with a Belsize Park error again providing the assist. Brentwood had been turned over within an arm’s length of the Belsize try line but, in trying to clear from the very compact dead ball area, the kick only made it as far as Joe Gill. Joe looked up, picked his spot and just went for it, gliding past various would be tackles to score a great solo try. Jamie Cox made sure of the conversion this time, 0-12.

Having now been on the receiving end of two charitable acts from Belsize Park, Brentwood decided to return the favour by not gathering the restart. Unlike Brentwood, Belsize Park wasted no time in making it count, a couple of quick phases later and they were crossing the Brentwood line for a well taken try. The conversion missed, 5-12.

Brentwood were back on the ropes again immediately; the restart going out on the full and Belsize Park coming close to scoring their second almost directly form the resulting scrum on halfway. Some very last-ditch scramble defence from the back three just prevented Belsize Park from getting over the whitewash but with an offside penalty conceded there was no respite as the ball was punted into the corner. Brentwood though defended the maul well as a unit, managing to shunt it backwards until Belsize Park were forced to get the ball out. This, followed up by Terry Snooks and James Vogel putting in two huge consecutive tackles, were enough to earn Brentwood a penalty which they tapped and cleared to touch for half time.

If the first half had been largely all Brentwood, Belsize Park were the ones to seize the initiative in the second. Perhaps neither team liked the far end of the pitch, but the third quarter was played out much in the manner of the first, this time with Belsize Park in the ascendency. Brentwood’s inability to clear their lines was not assisting their own cause but Belsize Park continued to win front foot attacking ball and retained possession patiently. Eventually the line break came and Belsize Park were free down the wing and heading for the corner; it looked like Ewan May had made a try saving tackle but in the referee's eyes it was not legal – an automatic 7 point penalty try awarded and Ewan sent to the bin for ten minutes, 12-12.

The next ten minutes were hard going for Brentwood, Belsize Park maintained the momentum and continued to press for another score. For extended periods it felt as though Brentwood were just about clinging on and a penalty kick poked into the corner was looking ominous. Fortunately, Brentwood can rely on Matt Whaley to dig them out of a hole; a vital lineout steal setting Jamie Cox up for a booming clearance kick and with that they had survived the sin bin.

This small success lifted Brentwood and they began to drag themselves back into the game, Ewan May making amends with a break up the middle before Toby Tierney and Jack Rocke added to the yardage. Jack Mayes looked to be on his way to the line having wriggled through a tackle attempt to burst free before a good covering effort pulled him down just short. The ball was quick though and spread wide to this week's backrow-back Lewis Holmes who managed to dot down in the corner. Jamie Cox's touchline conversion bisected the uprights, 12-19.

In the dying minutes of the game, it looked as though that score may have clinched it for Brentwood; Matt Whaley the solid recipient of the restart before Ewan May wellied downfield and Brentwood were up quickly enough to nab the turnover. Belsize Park though had other ideas, wrestling back possession in their own 22 before deciding they may as well go for the jugular and, slinging it wide, they broke down the wing. Brentwood were agonisingly close to bundling them into touch, but Belsize Park skirted the touchline and got the ball back in field to their support, Brentwood's cover unable to catch them as they raced in for the try. The pressure conversion was spot on, 19-19 and with that the full-time whistle and a draw.

A draw is always strange result to process but probably a fair reflection of this game; Brentwood will rue not converting their early opportunities into an unassailable lead whilst after a strong second half Belsize Park will probably have wished the game had 5 minutes longer to be played.

Brentwood's final league fixture is at home in two weeks' time against Chingford but next week they head to Southend to compete in the Essex Cup Final. Brentwood have played Southend twice in the league this year already, losing 45-14 away but winning 22-12 at home so the final could go either way. Southend are in a good run of form, coming off the back of 3 consecutive league wins and Brentwood will certainly need to put in a more fluid performance if they want to upset Southend on their home turf.