UPTON travelled to Walsall and were pleasantly pleased to find that there was not a cloud in the sky and, even better, there was no sign of the rain that has accompanied all previous encounters.

HANDSWORTH 13pts, UPTON 5pts

Upton played downhill for the first-half but were under pressure at kick-off as Handsworth pounced on the fumbled ball and an unconverted try was scored out wide.

For most of the half, Upton had difficulty controlling things in their usual manner as bottom-of-the-table Handsworth welcomed back several long-term injured players and would not let Upton settle to do much attacking. Indeed the Upton defence was busy keeping the line from being crossed again.

Right on half-time, the Upton hooker Rob Heeley took the ball against the head in a set scrum on the half-way. Brad Raymond collected and raced away, close to the touch line, avoided three covering tackles to score an unconverted try in the corner 5-5

Handsworth followed a similar pattern of play in the second-half and soon scored another unconverted try following a run penalty.

This stunned Upton into action, who then started to put together a more controlled style of play and were unlucky not to have scored two tries following good play. Winger Richard Mills and then by Rob Heeley ran 30 metres up the touchline to touch down but the official decided that there had been 'crossing'.

Upton kept fighting to the end but this was not to be their day and Handsworth closed out the match with a penalty-kick in the final minute for 13-5.

Upton lost the top spot but there are still four league games to go and they hope to get the league show back on track on March 4, away at Woodrush.