It was not the most appetising of conditions and the match did little to comfort those who turned their back on the warmth of the clubhouse and a comfortable television seat, but Tottonians' unbeaten record remains intact despite a poor performance against a willing Southampton.

Totts stay four points clear of the chasing pack and Southampton remain in the relegation mire, but the hosts can take considerably more than their visitors from this game.

All the scoring, what there was of it, was done in the first half. Richard Buck was the recipient of the sole try of the day, while Paul Goodall converted and added a penalty. Tony Cador claimed the only Southampton score, a penalty.

But it was dire fayre that enlightened little and received not much in the way of response. "Both teams showed good defensive qualities, leaving few try scoring opportunities," said Southampton's Dave Griffiths.

"It was more to do with winning the two points than exciting rugby, but our downfall was not winning enough quality ball when in their 22," he continued, while a Tottonians source felt it was "an uninspired match highlighted by the fact there were no points in the second half."

However, although it was Totts' lowest scoring match of the season, they move onwards at the summit of the table.

There is a light at the end of Trojans' tunnel as they came close to beating Purley John Fisher, but it was not quite enough to stave off defeat number six and keep them at the bottom of the table.

Trojans went into a quick-fire 12-0 lead through James Pennington and Andy Milton, but the Surrey side clawed their way back after some soft mistakes in the home ranks before and after the break to allow them to turn their 12-point deficit into a 12-point lead.

Pennington struck a penalty and converted skipper Ollie Joisce's try but, with many kicks missed from both sides, it could have gone either way. Unfortunately for Trojans, it did not go theirs.

Coach Richard Cheal was in no way disappointed and urged his side to take this performance onwards. "It was a good game and we played with lots of commitment, but their big forwards outpowered us.

"There was nothing in the game but unfortunately we lost despite being in the driving seat for most of the game," he added, while praising debutant Martin Pearson for his outstanding effort.

Petersfield stay in fourth place as they endured a battle against Cranleigh, outscoring their combative visitors by three tries to one but not without incident, as hooker George Rees was sent off in the dying minutes of the game.

Rees was one of the try scorers, as was skipper Derek Eldridge, who finished off a move which started of their own goal-line and passed through four sets of hands before the full-back claimed the try.