St ives 28 pts Weston 28 pts

WESTON got off to a flying start at Alexandra Road, as by the 14th minute they were 21 points ahead, having scored three converted tries.

But by the 11th minute of time added on at the end, they had done well to hang on for a draw.

Mark Armitage's delicate chip in the seventh minute gave a try to James Reid; then a strong break by Joe Ewens was well supported by Kevin Hobbs who scored at the posts.

The Seasiders' third try arrived when a break by Mike Lowis gave Paul Sprague the chance to score his first try of the season.

Armstrong converted all three scores to take him past 50 points in five outings and Weston were looking good.

But the hosts replied before the break.Several tackles were missed as Andrew Skinner barged over for Karl Martin to convert and add a penalty to bring the interval score to 21-10.

In the first minute of the second half, Martin kicked a 40-metre penalty via the crossbar to further reduce St Ives' arrears, but Sprague put the visitors in a strong position when his interception inside his own 22 carried him 75 metres for his second try.

Armstrong converted again, but the Cornishmen responded with Michael Brooke's try from short range, after which things started to go wrong for Weston.

Harsh and vital decisions went against them, including the disallowing of scores by Sprague and Ewens; and to add insult to injury, referee Mr McCrudden dealt yellow cards to Luke Hember and replacement Hallam Smith following a fracas, much of which centred around St Ives' former Bath scrum-half Ian Sanders who was also sent to the bin.

Later, as the match became dominated by penalty awards, Hobbs and Lowis also saw yellow.

After Martin's third penalty, Matthew Burns went close to securing both points for Weston before a series of penalties against the Seasiders resulted in Martin's conversion of Aaron Baigent's try in the 11th minute of stoppage time to level the match.

This result was hard to take as Weston had been the better team on the day.

David Burge's pack produced an outstanding performance and none did better than Darren Doughty, Hobbs and New Zealander Bryce Noble in his first start.

Noble was voted Weston's man of the match by the St Ives' panel.

In the backs, full-back Lowis, who had switched from the wing in the absence of Goran Vucicevic, had a fine match, as did Sprague, whose tries alone deserved to earn his team better fortune.

Weston: M Lowis (sin bin 80); M Burns, J Reid, J Ewens, P Sprague; M Armstrong, L Hember (sin bin 58) (R Drabble 84); C Derrick (H Smith 47, sin bin 58), D Burge, D Doughty, A Richards, B Noble, D Cook (P Morrissey 79), K Hobbs (sin bin 75), G Sparks.