A try from prop Chris Geyton from the last action of an enthralling end-to-end contest saw Romsey snatch their first London Division Four South-West win of the season.

They overturned a second-half 23-point deficit to run out 40-38 victors over United Services Portsmouth.

The promoted Hampshire Division One champions looked like facing their fourth straight defeat when some poor defending let Services score twice before the half-time interval and dredge up a 31-15 advantage.

That was after Nick Crosby has sent the home support into raucous cheers as he sprinted over for their first try of the season - Romsey had only captured twelve points from their opening three games through four penalties - and Stuart McCormick had surged through for a second.

But the second half saw a very different Romsey side emerge and, with the forwards outstanding, harassed Services.

The proof being that four of their six tries came from the front eight as skipper Ben Hewitt, Paul Double and a second from Crosby brought them within three - Services going over with ten minutes remaining.

But in a grandstand finish and deep into injury time, Romsey were awarded a penalty but instead of taking the three points that would have ensured the draw, from the ensuing line-out, Geyton drove through for the match-winning score.

"Hopefully this will settle us down as we have been getting better week on week," said an elated Hewitt. "We have players coming back in the next few weeks and now we have broken our duck, we can get some confidence back into the squad."

Just unbeaten Purley John Fisher stand between Southampton and the top of the table as they downed struggling Petersfield with some comfort, recording their third win from four starts 24-16.

Only a try at the end of the game with the match won reduced the winning margin as Southampton dominated throughout against a poor Petersfield side, who are not looking the same organised outfit that impressed last term.

Skipper Tony Cador could not contain his delight and praised "the awesome Paul Brant," and Alex Scott, who became a father this week but still answered the call when Ben Sadowski and Sam Gordon withdrew at short notice.

"Alex didn't know he was playing until he turned up at 2.30 to watch," said Cador.

"Once again, our forwards provided the platform and the backs' defence was excellent but they were shocking, not the Petersfield I expected to see," he added as Brant crossed twice and James Woolf added a third.

Tottonians went down to their third defeat and slipped to second bottom as unbeaten Guildford recorded a 55-20 win over Miles Northover's outfit, but once again, they were far from disappointed.

Guildford are one of the favourites for promotion, alongside Old Wimbledonians, but, save the first fifteen minutes where they conceded 24 points, Totts gave as good as they got and took the game to the Surrey side.

Had it not been for that opening, Totts could have caused an upset as they had the better in the forward exchanges and scored three well-worked tries through some intermittent defending. "We will take a lot from this game," said Northover.

"It was really encouraging as far as we are concerned and kept them to just 17-15 in the second half, which speaks volumes for us. If we can get over this slow start, then we will compete."