Head coach Will Knight's high Havant praise as they close the gap on Wimbledon

Head coach Knight was so impressed with his side's efforts in the 30-17 triumph he labelled it Havant' s 'best 80-minute performance of the season’.

It could also prove a key moment in the club's quest for a high-placing finish come the end of the season, as sixth-placed Havant moved to within two points of place-above Wimbledon.

Knight beamed: ‘It was probably our best 80-minute performance of the season. We started really well - they actually scored first - but it was very much against the run of play.

‘We’ve played some really good rugby at various stages of the season, but it was just the fact we said we wanted to go out, be patient and play for 80 minutes and I think we did those things. We kept the pressure on for the full game, we’ve been guilty at times this season of having slow starts and trying to catch-up or having fast starts and losing things a little bit, but we were in the game throughout (against Wimbledon) - even when they put a lot of pressure on us in the second half - our defence was fantastic.

‘From a coaching point of view, it was really pleasing because we delivered what we’d been talking about in training for the previous week which is always nice.’

The first-half produced plenty of action with 37 points amassed as Havant took a 25-12 lead into the interval.

Despite a bright start, the hosts conceded the first try to fall 7-0 behind before Wes Dugan and Sean Shepherd went over in the space of five minutes to put Havant 12-7 in front inside 24 minutes.

The scores kept coming with Richie Janes going over for Knight's men on 34 minutes - just two minutes after Wimbledon had a player sent to the sin-bin.

Despite their numerical disadvantage, the Dons grabbed their second try a minute later but a converted penalty double from captain Joel Knight in the build-up to half-time ensured Havant went in 25-12 to the good.

Matt Barrett secured the home side's bonus-point with their fourth try eight minutes after the restart - which was also his first for the club.

At that point it appeared as though the high-scoring trend would continue in the second half, but things calmed down for a period before Wimbledon got back to within 13 points of Havant with eight minutes to go.

When Elliott Bellman was sin-binned with five minutes remaining, Knight's men looked in store for a tense finish but they saw it out without conceding another point to secure a 30-17 victory.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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