Shelford held on for a gripping victory over Wisbech in the Counties 1 league at the weekend.

Shelford showed great heart and stamina to defeat Wisbech in a mammoth clash. 

Wisbech, currently bottom of the league, knew they had to be at their best to come close to making an upset and although the score flatters Shelford, with 15min to go Wisbech was still in range to do the unthinkable.

While the Wisbech lineout was dominated on the whole, the scrum crucially went toe-to-toe with Wisbech slowly getting the upper hand.

Wisbech defence and breakdown work proved exceptional they also showed they can attack from deep but fell short in being clinical as two opportunity to score was missed in the first half and another couple in the second half. 

Head coach Wessels said "It was the perfect match for us as we have been low on confidence as a squad we worked hard this week in training tweaking our attack and defence it was pleasing to see things coming together specially against a team like Shelford.

“We knew Shelford were going to bring it to us and they did, how we managed to stay on point mentally was fantastic, how we defended and attacked at times is really the big plus side of our performance, if that's the sign of things to come, we're going to be looking forward to the next game, hopefully that pushes us along.

“I’m delighted with the performance, yes the result did not go our way but it’s a step in the right direction and this will give us a lot of confidence knowing we can go toe to toe with the best in this league.

“We will keep working and fighting for our town and club to make them proud.

“Fair play to the boys for playing so well today. “Shelford is an outstanding team they aren't at the top for no reason.

“All our focus will be on Cantabs to keep improving and the results will look after itself.”

Wisbech centre Chiko was outstanding in defence and with ball in hand posed a threat to the Shelford defence was named Wisbech player of the match.

Wisbech 1st XV welcome Cantabs to Harecroft Road on Saturday for round 14 of the Counties 1 Eastern Counties league, kick off 2pm

Shelford RFC 24 - Wisbech RFC 0.