Enfield Ignatians defeated Welwyn 10-3 in a must-win encounter in the London Two North-West showdown at Donkey Lane, moving up to ninth before the Christmas break.

Welwyn came into the match with a four-game winning streak but Ignatians laid the foundations for victory in the first half and a successful Jake Bates penalty sent the hosts on their way.

Enfield continued to put on the pressure and scored the only try of the game through Cairo Sango.

Welwyn had coughed up possession to allow the Ignatians to seize the moment and four passes later the Oaklands College student was in.

Bates added the extras and Enfield were in the driving seat at 10-0 up going into the interval.

The hosts were forced to defend for lengthy periods in the second half and lost Sango to the sin-bin for a high tackle.

But Dave Gear managed to keep Welwyn at bay until the final minute when a Harry De-Lietto penalty secured a losing bonus-point for the visitors.

Coach Ali Cook said: “The win was built on the back of a huge defensive spirit against Old Haberdashers a week earlier.

“We put in the chop tackles and our line-speed was excellent, although there’s no denying that we left a few points out there.

“We had to dog it out in the second-half and there is certainly a lot more scope for precision when we are in possession of the ball. However, the whole squad put in a shift.”