London Rugby League Knockout Cup

St Ives 24 Centurions 2nds 29

CENTURIONS' second string have made it through to the final of the London League Knockout Cup after a hard fought victory away to Cambridgeshire side St Ives on Saturday.

Following last week's nail-biting win, Connor Kinnear's men were determined to maintain the push for the club's first ever silverware.

The first ten minutes were played at a hectic pace, with both sides failing to make any real impact, but it was the home side that got off to the better start when, following some sustained Centurion pressure, St Ives broke from their own line and went through some poor tackling to open the scoring with a converted try.

In a repeat of last week's game, the early score kick-started the St Albans side into life as they bounced back with a try of their own when some excellent running out of defence led to a fifth-tackle kick from Kinnear that the St Ives winger dropped under pressure from second row Craig Bailey that allowed him the easiest of scores, which Mark Winch converted to tie the score.

As the heat began to take its toll, the home side's advantage of playing down the slope started to count, and good St Ives attack combined with flimsy Centurion tackling led to two quick converted tries.

Many teams would have faltered at this point, but Kinnear rallied his troops into one last first-half effort, and they responded in the best possible manner just seconds from the whistle as St Ives lost the ball in the first tackle and hooker Dave Ashton collected from five yards out to dive over for the try that left the half time score at a far more respectable 18-12.

After the interval, the Centurions immediately started to make use of the slope, and some good passing between the backs got them into a position deep in their opponents' half, allowing scrum half Winch to catch out the home defence with a high kick that prop Brian Molyneux retrieved before scoring in the corner and reducing the deficit to two.

Exhaustion led to an increase in mistakes from both sides but, crucially, it was St Albans that managed to stick closest to their game plan to take advantage of tired St Ives tackling to send winger Dave Ashton into the corner for a try that Winch brilliantly converted.

The momentum was now with the Cotlandswick side and when Dave Evershed collected the ball from the kick off, the centre brushed off weak tackling to run 60 metres for a superb solo try that, once converted, left the Centurions ten points ahead with ten minutes to play.

Things looked comfortable for the visitors until Moly- neux was sin-binned and the home side promptly scored a try that reduced the gap to four, and made for a tense final few moments.

However, quick thinking from Winch saw him drop a goal that steadied his side's nerves and saw them through to a well-earned victory and a place in tomorrow's (Saturday's) final at South London.