FORM predictably went out the window in Portsmouth's derby match with Andover.

Andover, with one win all season prior to this game, edged comfortably-positioned Portsmouth 23-22 in a nail-biter at the Goodship Ground.

It came as no surprise to the visitors, though. They always knew it would be hard and they found Andover in a determined mood, springing into a 20-7 lead by the interval, having fallen behind early on.

The hosts, third from bottom before the start of play, lost both half-backs which allowed Portsmouth back in and to within a point, but Andover held on for a deserved victory.

"This is a really good win for us but we did expect a harder game, especially up front," said Andover skipper Marc Wilding. "But I'm happy - this win should give us confidence for the rest of the season."

Portsmouth coach Ian Chand-ler bemoaned his lengthy in-jury list that cost him the services of eight of the players from last week. But, even with that, he admitted: "We were poor. We didn't deserve to win even though we started to play a bit late on."

With Andover and Winches-ter, 13-10 winners over bottom side Cobham, both grabbing two points, it sends Gosport & Fareham to next to last, their lowest spot for three years.

Their latest defeat - a sixth from seven starts - at Wimbledon was all the more disappointing for coach Sean Fanning as he felt his side were more than capable of getting out of the losing habit.

Army No.8 Ben Hughes made an impressive debut but Fanning felt his side dropped their heads too quickly.

Havant remain in second in London 1 but took a while to shake off London Nigerian, eventually running out 29-17 in a scrappy clash that saw hooker Steve Cruddas, coach Owen Cobbe and centre Nick Cooper all join the ever-length-ening Hooks Lane casualty list.

In a nip-and-tuck encounter, it was only Cobbe's last-ditch drop goal and penalty that eventually sealed the success as the Londoners kept tabs on Havant throughout, even leading at the break.

Director of Rugby Adam King was more concerned for his newly-injured trio, especially Cruddas, who suffered concussion. But the win maintains their impressive start to the season, made better by the trouble with the injuries.

Trojans Women's outside centre Bev Farrow stormed over for EIGHT tries in her side's 93-0 win over Tedding-ton Antlers in the RFUW National 2 South-East fixture.

It was a stunning performance from the Stoneham Lane side, who played with just fourteen players for the duration of the match having lost Catherine Pratt just before kick-off.