Tottonians were made to battle all the way to the finish line for their latest London 1 South bonus point win – with lowly Chiswick deserving the two points.

Fumbles and missed tackles meant Totts made life difficult for themselves at times but they dug in to produce a 35-29 success in the closing stages, writes CLIVE DOWNTON.

The Water Lane home crowd saw their side go 7-0 behind after an unsettled first seven minutes but they got back level when Mike Searle broke free and passed to cousin Robbie Searle to touch down, with Pierre Alex Clark making the conversion.

Clark kicked another two points shortly after following Richard Buck’s try in the corner as Totts got back into the game.

However the Londoners responded with five points of their own and went ahead early in the second half when they crossed the line again.

Totts’ Tom Gregory was shown a yellow card and Chiswick added another three points from the penalty to go 22-14 ahead.

Tottonians finally got some quality ball with 15 minutes to go and, after great work from Tommy Foster, Kev Raqio crossed close to the posts and Clark kicked the extras to get to within a point of Chiswick.

The visitors dug in again and brought up their four-try bonus point and moved eight points clear with ten minutes on the clock.

Back came Tottonians as Robbie Searle got his second and the conversion put them a point behind once again.

The contest was won when Totts’ Dylan Baptista made the most of Clark’s searing break and 20-metre pass to sprint over the whitewash before the extras were added once again.

Chiswick earned two points from the match – one for four tries and one for being within seven points of their opponents.

Totts’ captain Robbie Searle said his side knew how difficult the match was going to be after being beaten at Chiswick in November.

He said: “They really came to play and really added something to the game but fortunately for us we have got a bit of a ‘never say die’ mentality at the moment and never give up. That paid off for us because the last ten minutes we got hold of the game and took it away from them.

“It’s a cliché to say that anyone can beat anyone on the day but, with the exception of the bottom two sides in this league, that’s certainly the case.

“There is quality throughout the league and if you are not at your best for 80 minutes it will show and we have found that out in certain games and been caught the wrong side of that – in other games our attitude has got us across the line.”

Promotion-seeking Havant had to be content with the four points they received for their 18-10 home win over Gravesend.

That meant Tonbridge Wells inched their way one point closer towards the second-placed Portsmouth side after they defeated Chobham 45-10.

Leaders Sidcup got the victory they expected by walloping basement side Gosport & Fareham 77-0.