IT was so near yet so far for Andover as they failed to follow up on last week’s success away to Old Tonbridgians just missing out to a resilient Exiles team.

Once again it was a slow start from Oakwood-sponsored Andover that did the damage as Exiles were left clinging on for grim death at the end of a game they had controlled in the first half.

The early fixtures have been unkind to Andover, this being the fourth away game in London in just six outings, but they will be fairly pleased with their haul – they claimed a further losing bonus point here to take their tally to eight from those four games.

“This was the best team we have played so far” said director of rugby Andy Waite.

“They were fit and well organised and competed superbly and I think they expected to blow us away in their own back yard.

“It’s frustrating that we once again started badly, but we have to take the positives from a fantastic second half performance that almost got us over the line.”

Andover were hampered by an early injury to Charlie Waite made worse by backs replacement Elliott Copestake being too ill to take the field.

James Dawson had to fill in at full back and Billy Pollard switched from back row to centre and as Andover reorganised they were caught cold.

A try from the home team left Andover in disarray but when Exiles received a yellow card in Andover’s first real attack the All Blacks knew they were in business.

From the resulting scrum penalty, Niko Rowe dashed for the line and offloaded brilliantly to Dawson, who crashed over for a try.

Andover still did not really wake from their slumber, however, and on the half hour confusion at the base of a scrum gave Exiles the chance to dash over for a gift of a try.

They quickly followed this with a further try as Andover got themselves into a real mess in defence and things were looking bleak for the visitors.

Some choice words from Andy Waite at half-time and a tactical change that brought mobile prop Craig Dunsdon into the front row seemed to help the cause and even though Exiles did increase their lead with a penalty, Andover gradually took control.

Tom Waite, Niko Rowe and Tom Erskine finally began to make inroads with their powerful running as Exiles defended desperately.

After a spell of sustained pressure a fine Simon Preece break was held up short and Alex Hibidge followed up to score a fine try.

With tails up Andover immediately committed the cardinal sin of giving away a penalty from the kickoff, which proved a crucial score for the home team in the end.

To make matters worse Erskine was very harshly dealt a yellow card and Andover looked to be out of it.

However, Adversity seems to galvanise this Andover team and when they still drove their opponents off a scrum ball with only seven in the pack they knew they still had a sniff.

They poured forward at a wilting defence and when a superb Rich Woodley cross kick was neatly finished by Taro Rowe in the corner and Woodley converted, the game was back in the balance.

With a few minutes to go, needing a try to win and with Erskine back in the fray, Andover threw the kitchen sink at Exiles.

Nic Reed and Pollard both made good breaks and the boot of Andy Franklin gained excellent territory.

Andover pressed and pressed but in the end just could not get the rub of the green they needed and Exiles clung on for the win.

“We had a lot of changes today but showed we now have real strength in depth.” said Waite “If a couple of things had gone our way in the second half we could have snuck a win but all in all we have to be realistic and say away from home we need to tighten up, especially early on.”