A late Ross McIntosh penalty gave OPs victory over league leaders Hammersmith & Fulham, holding off a late onslaught to record arguably the biggest result in the club's short history.

The Twisters were the slightly better side in the first half, reflected by an 8-0 scoreline heading to the break, thanks to a penalty from McIntosh and a try for centre Matt Ilube. Hammersmith came close to getting their first points in the closing moments of the opening 40 minutes, but were met with stoic Old Priorians defence.

A high quality, absorbing and physically draining encounter, Hammersmith held the bulk of possession in the second half and eventually went over in the corner around the hour mark, Joe Carolan's touchline kick successful to reduce the gap to just one point at 8-7.

The Hammers looked the more likely to turn the screw with the last quarter of the match to play, looking to spread the ball wide and exploit the tiring legs in the OPs backs.

A mixture of good tackling from the hosts and handling mistakes meant they couldn't force themselves over the whitewash ; however, Hammersmith were awarded a penalty on the halfway line with approximately 75 minutes gone and elected for goal. Carolan's fantastic kick sailed between the posts to put them ahead in the game for the first time.

Mere moments later and with the clock ticking towards zero, the visitors gave away a penalty of their own, very centrally and around 25 metres out. As hush descended upon Perivale, McIntosh stepped up to take the pressure kick, successfully converting to make it 11-10, no more than 2-3 minutes left.

An agonising period of play followed as Hammersmith searched for the win, trying to barrack their way forward, the pace of the game visibly slowing. In what seemed like an eternity, OPs were eventually given an advantage and booted the ball into touch to ring the sound of the full time whistle, sparking emotional scenes at the end of the best game of the season.

Quite possibly the best performance in recent years by OPs, Hammersmith and Fulham lose just their second game of the season, still holding a decent lead at the top of Regional 2 Thames. Despite the win, OPRFC move down to third, Cobham securing a bonus point win against London Irish Wild Geese.

Next up is an away tie to Old Haberdashers' next Saturday.

OPRFC SCORERS

T : Ilube

P : McIntosh 2