Holt 11, Woodbridge 5Holt avenged the defeat they suffered at Woodbridge earlier in the season to move up to third in the Eastern Counties One table.

Holt 11, Woodbridge 5

Holt avenged the defeat they suffered at Woodbridge earlier in the season to move up to third in the Eastern Counties One table.

With handling conditions difficult,Holt showed early dominance with their forwards producing a well-executed driving maul. From a penalty after five minutes Mears converted, the only score of the first half.

Holt did not appear troubled by Woodbridge's odd excursions into their half, but they had a let-off close to

half-time when, with the line at the visitors' mercy, the ball was knocked on.

The interval came with Holt looking comfortable, but they had not helped their cause by failing to find touch from penalty kicks, giving Woodbridge the chance to come back at them. The slippery ball led to plenty of knock-ons.

Holt started the second half with aggression but were not able to press home the advantage and had another

let-off when a Woodbridge penalty

kick rebounded from a post after 10 minutes' play.

Holt were not able to clear their lines and two minutes later, following a knock-on at the scrum, Woodbridge gained the advantage to score an unconverted try in the corner.

Their lead lasted barely a minute as Holt were awarded a penalty and Mears was equal to the occasion for Holt to lead to 6-5 with the incentive to make the game safe.

They were helped when a Woodbridge player was sin-binned for collapsing a maul, and following concerted pressure veteran prop Daniels broke off to score an unconverted try with 15 minutes remaining.

Holt continued their pressure on their opponents and had a penalty chance towards the end of the game, which was off-target.

At the whistle, Holt had kept their lead to win by 11-5 and overtook their opponents in the league.

Next game, third-bottom Ely are the visitors to High Kelling in a return league fixture.

Holt won 6-0 in the away fixture.