Hitchin 43 Kilburn Cosmos 27 HITCHIN scored 33 unanswered points to stage a dramatic fightback to win their final league game of the season in dramatic style. After going five points down to the visitors after 30 seconds, Hitchin were given a wake-up call

Hitchin 43 Kilburn Cosmos 27

HITCHIN scored 33 unanswered points to stage a dramatic fightback to win their final league game of the season in dramatic style.

After going five points down to the visitors after 30 seconds, Hitchin were given a wake-up call.

With alarm bells ringing, Hitchin responded by moving the ball wide but James Larman, in his final game for the Hedgehogs, was unable to find the space on the outside of his man.

Fortunately, on the other side of the pitch, Mike Jones found space to go round the outside of his man and bring the home side level.

Kilburn refused to throw away such a good start and continued to play well through out the half. Their hard work was rewarded with two more tries to put them 10 points ahead.

A penalty on Hitchin's line saw Aidan Barnett take a quick tap and offload to Chris Martin to make a scything run downfield, bringing the Hedgehogs to the Kilburn 22.

Moving the ball wide, Hitchin found Malcolm Fraser with the space to go round the outside of his player, to make the score 15-10 to the visitors at half time.

The second half saw more of the same great rugby.

Hitchin's lineout was its usual high standard with Nick Panton and Doug Brooker securing the ball, giving Sean McGinnity and Stewart Roberts the platform to make some charging runs.

Amid some confusion, Kilburn went through to score under the posts and followed it up with another try.

So with 22 minutes to go and trailing 27-10, Hitchin had to dig themselves out of quite a hole.

Replacement fly-half Robbie Vivian kicked Hitchin deep into the Kilburn half. Thundering runs from James Drury, Jo Benucci and Vinnie Kevans shredded the Kilburn defence.

Barnett found himself on the end of a break and jinked his way to the line.

Roberts crashed through to score another try, closely followed by McGinnity who drove over from five yards out. The successful conversion saw Hitchin gain the lead at 29-27 for the first time in the game.

Another breakdown on the five metres saw Panton pick and go but he could not break through. Fortunately captain Carwyn Morgan was close by to show him how it should be done and crossed the line. Another successful conversion saw Hitchin 36-27 ahead.

In the final few minutes of the game, Fraser was given the ball out wide and a quick cut back inside saw him secure his second try of the day.

Vivian's third conversion saw the Hedgehogs finish on the right side of a 43-27 scoreline.

Other scores: Letchworth II 13 Hitchin II 22, Biggleswade III 10 Hitchin IV 7.