Datchworth travelled to Hackney Marshes with genuine hopes of beating Old Streetonians - and they returned knowing that but for a few unforced errors, they could have at least snaffled a losing bonus point.

They went down to a 29-17 defeat which leaves them still stuck in the relegation places at the foot of London Two North West.

Old Street remain in fifth.

Datchworth started solidly and their defence was sound, giving them the confidence to test the opposition backs by running the ball from defensive positions.

Unfortunately, one such foray ended with a pass straight to an Old Street centre and brought a try in the corner.

This was followed almost immediately by another opposition try, this time in the other corner.

Neither were converted though and with the Men in Green defending extremely well for the rest of the first half, it stayed at 10-0 at half-time.

Injury concerns to Olly Tatlow and Liam Walker fortunately proved unfounded and wit h the pair back on the pitch, Datchworth started the second half very strongly.

They immediately engineered a line-out on the opposition five-metre line but the opportunity went begging when the line-out turned into a messy maul and backchat from the visitors giving a penalty to Streetonians.

The hosts responded with another unconverted score with 25 minutes left on the clock but, as they so often do, Datchworth rallied with an excellent try by inside centre Franco Caroleo.

Another mistake from the kick-off undid that good work and led to another Old Street try but once again Datch responded with a backs move started by wing James Hankin with a sharp run up the right.

That was followed by skilful inter-play between backs and forwards and finished in the left-hand corner by a brilliant run from Nick Moore.

Mistakes extended the home lead once more but Datchworth had the final say.

Once more the backs swept downfield, allowing the forwards to clear ruck after ruck and present Dom Negri with the opportunity to blast his way through from 10 yards.

Fly-half Tom Bennett, who had an excellent second half, converted to leave Datchworth empty-handed but full of confidence ahead of a trip to Grasshoppers on Saturday.

A spokesman for the club said: "This was an entertaining game which Streetonians deserved to win but, as so often this season, this young Datchworth team showed commitment, resilience and no little skill.

"If they can cut out the errors and focus for the whole 80 minutes, a successful end to the season beckons."