BATTLING Cinderford kept their National One hopes alive with a tense 17-9 victory over Old Albanian.
Sitting in 14th from 16 in the relegation zone, there were no two ways about it - Cinderford had to win in Hertfordshire to keep their hopes of National One safety alive.
And it was a nervy start for both teams. Twice Bulumakau knocked on when Cinderford were creating width in the Old Albanian 22 and they were struggling to secure clean ball from the scrum.
What they initially lacked in execution, they made up for in defence.
The defensive frailties that let Esher score 46-25 points against them last week had clearly been addressed. Old Albanian pressured the Cinderford try-line three times but each time the Foresters secured a turnover and cleared their lines.
The hosts were feeling the pressure too - twice wayward passes put a premature end to the attack.
The deadlock was finally broken in the 24th minute, as a sloppy Albanian pass was intercepted by centre Jack Adams, who ran over half the length of the pitch to crash over under the posts.
Fly-half Mike Wilcox converted and Cinderford had the early advantage.
Old Albanian reacted and hooker Brett McNamee made a bulldozing run into the 22, with winger Nathan Earle cutting a crafty line to go close. Cinderford's defence held strong until they strayed offside and Old Albanian split the posts in the 31st minute, from the boot of full-back Rich Gregg.
But five minutes later Cinderford doubled their lead, as number eight and captain Adam Balding crashed over from a rolling maul. Wilcox's conversion sneaked over on the right side of the upright, and a buoyant Cinderford were 14-3 up at half-time.
The second half burst into life when Earle made a scintillating run down the wing, but a Stef Hawley covering tackle brought him crashing to the floor.
But the pressure did not let up. Tom Heard was pinged for not rolling away and subsequently binned, while Gregg kicked the penalty for three points.
Again Old Albanian demonstrated a lack of execution that had proven costly. Dom Regan made a blistering clean break and offloaded to Gregg, but the ball was spilled. Hooker McNamee took a massive hit and was out cold before he hit the desk, and there was a short break in play as he was stretchered off.
Adams cleared with a bouncing grubber once play restarted and Cinderford had cleared the danger.
The sides' traded penalties, both pinged for holding on. But Old Albanian found territory in Cinderford's 22 and Adams was penalised for pulling a man down in the maul.
Fortuitously, the driving effort towards the line was knocked on and Cinderford escaped from their own 22 once again without giving away a point.
But discipline was proving to be a problem - Gregg had another punt at the posts but his effort sailed wide in the 65th minute.
Wilcox missed a penalty after Old Albanian were off their feet in the ruck, but had another chance to put the game out of easy reach minutes later. He split the posts with just eight minutes remaining to boot Cinderford 17-9 ahead.
Adams was binned for a late tackle but Gregg's 35m penalty attempt was too ambitious as it had the legs but drifted wide.
Old Albanian continued to attack against 14 men but their efforts were fruitless and it was clear how much the win meant to the jubilant Cinderford.
CINDERFORD: S Hawley, A Bulumakau, J Adams, R Winchle, S Baker, M Wilcox, D Pointon ( C Stuart-Smith, 67) W Davis, T Bozzard, E Booley (T Heard - blood), E King, L Randall, R Birkin, W Keenan (G Mills, 59), A Balding (c)
REPLACEMENTS: J Smart
OLD ALBANIAN: R Gregg, N Earle, D Regan (O Marchon, 54), D Holmes, M Allen (J Speirs), I Vass, S Liebenberg, A Berry, B McNamee (J Robinson, 49), C Parilli Ocampo (R Scillachi, 40), R Hamilton (N Stevens), B Johnson, A Daish, O Cooper Millar, H Stringer
REFEREE: Alexis Manley
![Cinderford keep National One hopes alive with Old Albanian win]( "Cinderford keep National One hopes alive with Old Albanian win")
