Alford’s last-gasp try seals hard-fought win for Royals

In a scrappy game in which Leamington continued to surrender possession, some familiar names were on hand to ensure the scoreboard ticked over in the hosts’ favour with Steve Alford, Will Cox and Rhys Horton grabbing tries for the second successive week.

Royals playmakers Simon Gardener and Adam Clifford also managed to outfox the Wolves defence to score solo tries.

Debutant Andre Martin used his power to brush 
past several defenders to score, while Oldham-born Peter Crawford also grabbed the try his performance merited.

Despite being outplayed for much of the second half, Leamington held on thanks in part to the exploits of man-of-the-match Nick Sprague whose level head allowed Royals to compose themselves for a final assault.

With the scores locked at 28-28, Lloyd Horton crashed over from ten metres to restore Royals’ lead.

Then, with only seconds remaining, Leamington ran the ball back and, on the fourth tackle, clever handling released tryscoring machine Steve Alford, whose turn of pace put the game to bed.

Now second in the league, Royals travel to Bedford tomorrow looking to put further pressure on table-toppers Derby City.