It wasn't pretty and it was never likely to be - but Southampton did the job they set out to do in their local derby with Romsey, settling the score from their previous encounter with a 10-5 success.

Recovering from the early set-back of a try within two minutes of the kick-off, when Adam Coe fed his skipper, Ben Hewitt, from a line-out catch and drive to tumble over the line to give the hosts a five-point start, Southampton hit back and played the majority of the game in Romsey territory.

But they could not capitalise on their advantage, bringing just a Tony Cador drop-goal into the half-time team talk as Romsey's defence held firm and their own discretions let them down.

The home side sniffed another sensational scalp as they played some good periods of rugby, but full-back Denville Elleston surged through to give Saints the lead and Ben Sadowski added the extras midway through the half.

However, Romsey threw everything into attack late on only for the red and whites to repel them and hold out for the crucial two points.

Saints captain Cador was pleased. "We put a lot of pressure on ourselves to win this game so could not relax into it," he said. "The win was more important than the way we played, so therefore winning 10-5, there was nothing to shout and sing about. We did the job we came to do and that is good enough for us."

With US Portsmouth recording just their second league success of the season - defeating Old Paulines 24-8 - the one relegation place is at present filled by Romsey who have had two points deducted for fielding an unregistered player earlier in the season.

Petersfield did something that no other side had achieved so far this season, defeating league leaders Purley John Fisher 17-13 in a memorable afternoon at Penns Place.

In a match where the lead changed hands five times and Purley regained it with a try in injury time, flanker Ian Palmer sent the home supporters into raptures when he was on the end of a three-man overlap to clinch the win even deeper into added time.

Tottonians are back up to third in London Division Three South-West but they were given a scare by winless Old Blues, who have improved significantly since their last encounter, according to the victorious skipper Miles Northover.

Two tries in the last few minutes finally sealed matters as the Surrey side kept tabs on the improving Totts throughout, but a brace from Lee Brading and Mike Searle's one just before no-side ensured the points came south.

But they were not fully on top of their game and Northover did admit that complacency did creep in to a slight degree.

"It is always difficult to raise yourself when you look at the league table and see the team you are playing are bottom with no wins," he said.

"They have improved a lot though and they will be winning one or two games before the season is out. So to say we played badly would be harsh but we made hard work of it and the scoreline did flatter us slightly."