THE excitement of Friday evening's Powergen Cup tie between Bath and Sale, where the West Country side won with the last kick of the game, seemed to rub off on Hampshire Division 1!

Two of the games came down to the wire as leaders Trojans and Millbrook both relied upon last-gasp shots at goal to secure victory, while Sandown & Shanklin were very lucky again to get past Nomads for the second successive week.

The collective sigh of relief from all involved at Trojans was audible across the New Forest as they scrapped past tenacious New Milton & District, thanks to Tim Zeale's penalty goal with only two minutes left on the clock.

With a performance that owed much to the excellence of the Trojans front five, they finally took the game in which the lead changed hands five times.

Tries from Ben Boyes and scrum-half Mark Sharpe allowed the visitors to keep tabs on the hosts, who battled strongly but could not quite claim the win.

"What a drama of a game," said coach Pete Surtees. "Bearing in mind we have not played since December 11, it was a big test for us and it was a good job we had Eastleigh up at our place in midweek (for a training session), otherwise we would not have won."

The race is definitely down to just two now but just how Sandown & Shanklin hood-winked Nomads by a single point for the second successive weekend was sickening for the Portsmouth-based strugglers.

Having cruised into a 17-0 lead after just ten minutes, the Hurricanes took their foot off the pedal and Nomads clawed their way into the game, only for the Islanders to cling on at the end to a 24-23 win to repeat the margin of the 15-14 success seven days before.

"I just don't know how we have done it again," confessed skipper Lee Priddle. "We had strengthened our team but Nomads are well organised under David Ball and we have just found it hard to play against them."

Tommy Booth's 40-yard dash was followed by Alan Morey rounding off a good centres move while Ross Edmonds came back to add a third for the Islanders.

Alan Day's second successful penalty gave Millbrook a rare win at Isle of Wight, by 16-15. 'Brook looked to be staring defeat in the face when the Islanders slotted their fifth penalty of the day just moments before to give them the lead but they then conceded and Day stepped up and accepted the goal for the win.

"We cannot remember coming over here to Wootton and winning," said the match-winner. "And we needed to win otherwise we would have been dragged back into the relegation mire."

US Portsmouth did themselves a favour in the fight against the drop by consigning Alresford to their 12th defeat - but only just as the winless mid-county men fell 21-18. Paul Rees's men led 11-10 early in the second half when Jon Tugwell went over but a try by Andy Holmes and two Matt Holzl penalties reengaged Services' lead before Rees set up the grandstand finish.

"It was a good day of rugby," said US team manager Bert Reynolds. "We are relieved to have got the result and Alresford came piling through at the end. The packs were 50-50 throughout."

Fareham Heathens' coach Matt Southey was exasperated by his side's poor performance in losing at Farnborough 12-3, which casts them into the mix of mid-table and means they will have to look over their shoulders.

Niall Allardice kicked the solitary penalty but Southey was fuming as his team's lack of discipline as the struggling north Hampshire side bettered Heathens in all aspects of the play to deserve their sixth win of the season.

"We just didn't want this game," said the disconsolate coach.