St. Albans travelled to Barnet Elizabethans on Saturday looking to get back to winning ways after the previous week’s narrow defeat to Hendon.

Sadly, that was not to be the case as they were comprehensively beaten by a motivated Barnet side 34 – 14.

It started so well for Saints, they looked assured and confident and after just three minutes took the lead when Harry Atherton timed his run to perfection and split the home defence to score a try that George Elliott converted.

Barnet Elizabethans then took control as St. Albans struggled to find any fluency, a penalty for offside gave the home team their first points and from that they started to believe in themselves.

St. Albans were having difficulty with the ball not going to hand and a series of errors that disrupted the flow of the game. Despite Saints success in the tight play they could not convert this into territorial advantage and too many passages of play broke down to the benefit of the Barnet side.

With the confidence of the home side growing it was not surprising when they scored two tries in quick succession, both of which were converted to give them a healthy lead at 17 – 7.

Just prior to the break St. Albans rallied and had a period of sustained pressure
but could not find the means to breach the home defence.

The second half started with Barnet Elizabethans firmly in the driving seat, their tactics were sound, and they used the conditions to their advantage. Two further tries and a penalty took the game out of Saints reach and even another Harry Atherton try could not make any inroads to the home team’s superiority.

All credit to a spirited Barnet Elizabethans team that played the game they wanted to play, St. Albans will reflect on not making their advantage count and the tactics required to win games in this league.

Final Score: Barnet Elizabethans 34 vs St. Albans 14.