Paddy Robinson scores late try as Bury St Edmunds find a way past plucky Old Albanians at the Greene King IPA Haberden

A Paddy Robinson try three minutes from time saw Bury St Edmunds to what was an unlikely-looking victory at the Greene King IPA Haberden against a plucky Old Albanians side.

The Wolfpack - who had drawn deserved plaudits to become the first side to beat Tonbridge Juddians last time out on home turf - flattered to deceive for most of this niggly back-and-forth contest where they suffered from a lack of flow in their attack and some telling defensive errors.

But despite being behind on the scoreboard until 11 minutes into the second half, and then falling behind again, Jacob Ford’s boys managed to find a way late on with their set piece proving key to laying the platform for new dad Robinson to land the crucial score.

Their defence then withstood desperate late pressure from the visitors from St Albans who ended up losing for a seventh straight match in London 2 North East while Bury bounced back from a 31-5 reverse at Barnes last weekend.

But the failure to acquire a fourth try bonus point actually saw Bury drop a place in the table to eighth with Westcombe Park overtaking them courtesy of points difference. OAs remain in 10th spot but now 10 points adrift of The Wolfpack.

On a perfect winter’s day for rugby, Bury dropped an early chance after working themselves into a good position from their opening attack.

OAs came back with a dangerous counter that almost ended in disaster for the hosts with Bury soon managing to turn over possession.

With the warning signs not heeded, Bury were punished in the ninth minute with the opening try as centre Andrew Nurse collected a pass and was able to dart through a gaping gap in the Bury line to go under the posts. It left a simple kick for Sam Jones who made no mistake.

The Hertfordshire side extended their lead to 10-0 with a penalty by Jones following a high tackle after Bury had been withstanding heavy pressure in their five-metre area.

The Wolfpack had showed little as an attacking force but hit back with a converted try of their own 20 minutes in when Jack Johnson did well to spin through the final five metres after some slick ball in hand with Chatlie Reed landing the kick.

But it was only three minutes before Bury shot themselves in the foot as, following a long-range penalty being caught under by the post, Reed kicked it straight out to Alex Noot with the full-back having a free run in down the left flank.

What had turned into an end-to-end half continued as the hosts worked the phases before head coach Ben Penfold found a gap to make up the final metres to the left of the post. The angle was not too great for Reed to add the extras to reduce the deficit to one at 15-14 at the interval.

Bury were threatening to take the lead for the first time in the early stages of the second half with a neat lineout move promising much before another handling error.

But they finally got their noses in front in the 51st minute when opting to kick from a central penalty with Reed holding his nerve off the tee for 17-15.

The hosts were reduced to 14 when Ben Kelland was shown a yellow card for a high tackle in a height mismatch.

With their numerical advantage, OAs pinned the hosts in with Reed doing well to make sure he was first to a low kick into the red zone before his side stood up to a catch-and-drive attempt as the referee went back for an offside advantage.

But the try that was coming arrived on the hour mark in disappointing circumstances from a home perspective. Fly-half Matthew Darlymple kicked over the top from just inside his half for Noot to pick up and run in bizarrely unopposed for an unconverted score.

From three points down, Bury - who were continuing to give away penalties - were looking more like falling further behind than getting themselves back in front.

But it was the latter that duly happened as the strength their scrum began to tell.

From one such penalty, field position was achieved and play from a solid scrum allowed some front-foot phases with Kharbouch gaining vital metres on a surging drive before offloading for Robinson to crash over with Reed duly converting to the delight of the home crowd.

There was still work to do to get the result over the line as OAs penned them in but it was a deep lineout that failed to go straight which eventually brought the final whitsle.

It was not a game that will live long in the memory for those watching on in the cold but Bury’s players deserved credit for finding a way to get the win which they will now look to follow up at home to Henley next Saturday to sign off for the festive break on the perfect note.

Bury St Edmunds: 15 Reed, 14 Earnshaw, 13 Kharbouch, 12 Johnson, 11 Loose, 10 Penfold, 9 Metcalfe, 1 Robinson, 2 Carmichael-Fraser, 3 Cooper, 4 Grigg-Pettitt (cpt), 5 Kelland, 6 Andrews, 7 Guy, 8 Williams.

Replacements: 16 McCartney, 17 Stone, 18 Donovan, 19 Lavin, 20 McPhun.

Old Albanians: 15 Noot, 14 Bridger, 13 Jones, 12 Lound, 11 Nurse, 10 Dalrymple, 9 Thomas, 1 Harris, 2 Fleckney, 3 Holland, 4 Gibbs, 5 Kingswell-Watts, 6 West, 7 Alexander, 8 Ponsford.

Replacements: 16 Ramzanpour, 17 Samuel, 18 Radovanovic, 19 Walsh, 20 Ajeigbe.

Bury Coaches Man of the Match: Paddy Robinson.