Bishop's Stortford Four's 20
Ongar 7
(Friendly)

ONGAR slipped to defeat in a friendly against a fourth string Bishop Stortford side.

The weekend's cup fixture list left Ongar without a match, so they made the trip to Silver Leys to face tough opponents.

The visitors' depleted squad meant they were up against it from the start.

Stortford struck soon after kick off when their backs capitalised on a mix-up between Ongar's centres.

The Love Lane men found their feet after this and began to get into the game. But they were undone by a strong Stortford pack mid-way through the first half, as the hosts added another converted try to make it 14-0 at the break.

Ongar played like they had a point to prove in the second period.

The visitors dominated proceedings and Stortford found themselves pressed into their own 22 for much of the contest.

But Ongar were thwarted by handling errors precipitated by the boggy conditions.

Their single score came from skipper Dave Blake, who was in the right position to pounce on a fumble by Stortford's fly half and touch down. He applied the conversion too, for the score to stand 14-7.

Ongar kept up the pressure on the hosts and tested them in all areas of the pitch and a couple of late penalties ended any hopes they had.

12:27pm Wednesday 16th January 2008

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