Enfield Ignatians suffered their fourth consecutive defeat in London Two North East as they were beaten 29-14 by strugglers Old Cooperians.

Ignatians began the contest in determined mood and some slick handling from the backs created the platform for left wing Dave Gear to go over on six minutes. The successful Jordan Wilson conversion extended the lead to 7-0.

Ignatians were dominant in the opening stages but let Old Cooperians off the hook by failing to cash-in on their chances, before the hosts’ dangerous left winger Harry Fayers struck close to half time. Matt Carter added the extras to make it 7-7 at the break.

The second half saw Ignatians slip behind to a Tom Wheatley try only to edge into a 14-12 lead after Gear, linking up with Ryan Browne on the opposite wing, produced a well-worked try for the latter.

However, further scores from Fayers and Anthony Bottone sealed the Coopers win.

Very disappointed head coach Emile Hertz said: “It was the worst defeat since we went down to Old Streetonians a couple of seasons ago and totally unexpected.

“Admittedly we weren’t helped by an injury to centre Tom Jordan. Consequently, Wes Warren, a number eight had to cover that position, which meant that we had two backrowers in our backline, which wasn’t ideal, although I thought that Dave Gear [normally a flanker] played very well.

“At times we got outmuscled at the breakdown but, just when we needed to keep it simple, we over-elaborated by throwing mis-passes or popping the ball out of the tackle. However, there’s no denying that Old Cooperians were the better side and deserved the win.”