After last week’s encouraging performance, Finchley were determined to get a result at home against high-flying Harlow. The teams had to contend with testing conditions, as strong winds and rain made handling difficult throughout.

Harlow opened the scoring after four minutes. A succession of loose passes gave centre Casey Baldoick the chance to cross the line to the right of the posts. Fly-half Liam Babin added the conversion to put the visitors 7–0 ahead.

Both sides enjoyed spells of possession, but neither could turn them into points before half-time. Finchley went into the break trailing 7–0.

With the wind behind them in the second half, Finchley began to put together some promising moves. On 55 minutes, Connor Rogers kicked through from halfway towards the left wing, where Rob Melling was on hand to finish an excellent try. Inigo added a superb conversion to level the score at 7–7.

The game was finely balanced, but Harlow regained the lead around the 70-minute mark. Finchley tried to keep the ball in hand close to their own posts, but a loose pass was knocked on, giving Harlow a penalty. The visitors chose to run the ball, and Robert Macpherson crossed on the left to make it 12–7.

There was no further scoring. It was a closely fought contest, played in good spirits, but Harlow took the points.

Upcoming Matches