Ely Tigers bounced back from their first defeat of the season last weekend to beat Wymondham RFC 27-20 thanks to a faultless kicking display from Jake Alsop.

Despite trailing by eight points in the second half, Alsop scored 17 points from the tee to kick the Tigers to victory and lift the side to sixth in the Counties 1 Eastern Counties table, ending Wymondham's unbeaten start.

The Tigers took the first chance of the game, scoring with a penalty chance in front of the posts through Alsop, who made no mistake with his first successful conversion out of six to come.

Wymondham missed a penalty of their own but punished Ely's failure to clear their lines from the restart to find gaps in the Tigers' defence and bounce off tackles for a converted score and a 7-3 lead.

The penalty count was building against Wymondham, and it was going to be those that would cost them, as Ely were awarded another penalty in front of the posts to close the gap to a point.

While the Tigers were chipping away with three points, the visitors were opening the gap with tries, as they found gaps in the back line to score in the corner.

The conversion was missed and quickly followed up with two more penalties for Alsop to make it 12-12 at the break. 

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The victors started the second half quickly, scoring an unconverted score in the corner and kicking a penalty for an ominous 20-12 lead.

Alsop cut the deficit to five with another penalty before Wymondham's penalty count finally caught up with them as they went down to 14.

A moment of magic from Matt McCarthy, who picked up a pass and looked across the field to kick the ball towards the opposite corner, helped tie up the scores when Sheriden Mead gathered to score an unconverted try.

The Tigers then punished a Wymodham penalty miss, with Nathan Brooks crashing over for a converted score to seal a tight 27-20 win.

Ely will hope to build on their victory when they travel to play Bury St Edmunds Second team on Saturday, October 7, in their next league fixture.