SHREWSBURY 10 OLD SALTS 12

PLAY-OFF chasing Old Salts edged a tense affair against bottom club Shrewsbury after a dramatic finale.

At kick off, Salts chose to go against the howling gale that blew down the pitch and, on balance, they probably regretted that.

They struggled to get going but did finally open the scoring on 35 minutes.

It took a mazy run by number eight and man of the match Dan Fentham to produce the score out wide.

It took his tally to 12 tries for the season.

The conversion attempt was narrowly missed by Lewis Beaty against the wind.

The Shrews responded and kicked a penalty two minutes before the break to go into the interval 5-3 behind.

The second half mirrored the first, with strong defence and handling errors from Salts littering the game.

With four minutes to go, Salts were stunned as the Shrews bagged a converted try to move into a 10-5 lead.

They battled hard to get back into the game and levelled things up with a minute to go when Sam Turner took the ball at pace on the left wing and chipped the covering winger before racing in from 15 metres out.

With regular kicker Beaty off the field, the conversion fell to captain James Mason to attempt and he kept his cool to seal a dramatic win.

Coach Dean Lewis said: "It was a very frustrating day at the office.

"We were rusty, tried to force passes and did not have the rub of the green.

"But the determination and application to win the game from that position was fantastic, although I would prefer we don't repeat the process again!"