The visitors immediately put Tows scrum under huge pressure giving debutant Loose head Conor Cahill an extremely turbulent time. Monopolising possession Ilkeston forwards vigorously drove at the home side releasing their classy scrum half Joel Haugh to dot down between the posts his half back partner Jake Lamb converting for a well-deserved seven point lead.
In spite of all their possession Ilkeston failed to break the ferocious Tows defence until deep into the half when Ilkeston’s scrum drove Tows off their own ball, number eight Adam Corcannon was presented with a simple score.
Tows injuries compounded with Yeates, Wheldon, Williams and Gallagher being added to the list.
Ilkeston’s domination of possession continued in the second half. Finally they looked to have breached Tows line, when their dangerous full back created a clear run for their winger only to be pounced upon from behind by centre Chrissie George covering across to stop a certain try.
Tows then produced a quite magnificent move to stun the league leaders. Matt Yuill stepping through countless tackles found support who then spread the ball to Chrissie George to run in under the posts.
Tows scrum began to look solid with the introduction of Joe Chambers against the visibly tiring pack. Could the Tows crowd lift the players to snatch the win from the unbeaten visitors?
Tows countered Ilkeston’s attempted clearance kick, with young winger Ben Nichols to the fore on his debut, Tows spread a quick penalty wide through Charlie Barker to find Holton lurking on the wing to score, Yuill stroking over the conversion for Tows to steal the game they only clung on to through their coruscating defence.
For the neutral a fine game of running rugby excellently handled by referee Gary Malipas in a hard fought clean contest.