Weston 29 pts St Ives 28 pts

WHEN St Ives were last at the Recreation Ground in 1988, they were successful by a single point, but on Saturday the Seasiders prevailed by the same margin.

With 10 minutes remaining, they had seemingly gained a winning lead, but in the end they did well to withstand the Cornishmen's sprint finish.

Weston were fortunate to be still in the match at the interval.

An early mistake cost them a penalty by Grant Thirlby and in among some indifferent handling and another below-par effort at the line-out, a poor clearance gifted a try to Lee Taylor.

But following a lengthy stoppage for a serious knee injury to St Ives' Paul Sanders, Weston got themselves back into the game with James Reid's short-range try.

Immediately after the break, Thirlby increased the visitors' lead with his second penalty and at 11-5, Weston were in some disarray, but suddenly they came to life.

A searing run by Goran Vucicevic set up Mark Armstrong's chip to the line for Joe Ewens' try which Armstrong converted.

Thirlby's third penalty restored St Ives' advantage before T J Madamombe's powerful run gave Armstrong a penalty for obstruction.

With their line-out in working order, the Seasiders now began to play some attractive rugby and Paul Sprague finished off some splendid work by George Sparks with a 45-metre run to the posts.

Armstrong converted again and he soon added the points to a try by Michael Denbee following some good skills by Matthew McQuaid.

This was Denbee's fourth try in the last five games.

At 29-14, Weston looked home and dry, but St Ives were not finished.

Two tries in as many minutes by replacement Ashley Lawton and Aaron Baigent, both converted by Thirlby, gave the hosts a nervy final 10 minutes, but they held on and were attacking at the end.

This was a much better performance by Weston, who seem able to defeat teams in the top three of the table, but fail to overcome teams near the bottom.

For the hosts, there were good outings for Vucicevic, Ewens and Sprague, together with Curtis Rowland and his replacement Hallam Smith; and Sparks celebrated the award of his blazer badge with his best performance of the season.

Weston: G Vucicevic; M McQuaid, T J Madamombe, J Ewens, P Sprague; M Armstrong (L Hember 71), J Reid; D Milenkovic, D Burge, C Rowland (H Smith 60), B Noble, A Russell, G Simpson (A Richards 16), M Denbee, G Sparks.

• WESTON scrum-half Luke Hember was awarded his club blazer badge following his 65th first team appearance during the match against St Ives.Bristol-born Hember (23) was educated at Worle School and started his club career with Hornets Minis.He joined the Weston club at 14-group level and proceeded to the Colts from where he appeared for Somerset and the South West.He later played for the English Colleges before making his senior debut as a replacement against Worcester in April, 2001.His first full appearance followed six months later against Keynsham in the NPI Cup, since when he has scored seven tries, three conversions and three penalties