BY ANDI STARR

FEW of the elements of Nottingham's recent good form were in evidence at the Richmond Athletic Ground as London Scottish recorded a deserved 25-13 win.

EYE SPY: Joe Munro spots a gap against London Scottish. PIC: Alison Bowden.

The hosts' success came despite being reduced to 13 men in the late stages.

In that time Nottingham camped deep in the Scottish 22, but despite their numerical advantage, a combination of stubborn - and at times desperate - defence, along with their own mistakes saw them struggle to turn that advantage into points.

The Green and Whites did, however, manage to carve an opening for David Jackson to score in the corner, with James Arlidge converting. But an overall heroic effort from the home side deservedly saw them claim the points.

It was the Exiles second success against top four opposition since the turn of the year, having claimed an impressive home win against Bedford in January.

Scottish took the lead with an early penalty from James Love, but Nottingham looked to get back into the game when Jackson broke through the defence and gave chase only to see the ball turned over.

The home side quickly turned defence into attack as Miles Mantella raced away, and although the Nottingham defence managed to stop him they conceded a penalty for Love to double the lead.

A third penalty on the half hour made it 9-nil to the Exiles.

They extended that lead before the break as Mantella kicked through and his pace took him clear to touch down in the left hand corner for the first try of the afternoon.

Love was off target with the conversion, but that score meant the home side led by 14 points at the break.

Arlidge got his side back into it though with two penalties in quick succession in the early stages of the second half.

But thoughts of a fight-back took a big blow when Mantella grabbed his second try of the game following a hack through from Love.

Although off target with conversion, a fourth penalty form Love made it 22-6.

Then came the yellow cards that robbed Scottish of both Adam Kwasnicki and Nic Mayhew in quick succession.

With just nine points separating the sides Jackson's try suggested that Nottingham could capitalise, but despite a series of multi-phase attacks they simply could not break down the home defence.

Once back up to full strength Scottish worked a fifth penalty for Love to complete the scoring, and another victory against high-flying opposition.