Worthing Raiders kept survival hopes flickering with a home win over Colchester.
The 32-24 success gave something to cheer although, realistically, to avoid the drop they will need to win all three of their remaining matches, and Havant and Colchester will need to lose all their games.
With three of their last four matches at Roundstone Lane, Raiders still believed it was possible to avoid the drop and that faith will live on for now.
Jack Forrest made an interception and sprinted the length of the pitch to score an unconverted try but Colchester fought back to lead 12-5.
Ben Featherstone touched down from a driving maul and Charlie Spencer added the extras to bring the scores level.
Then an excellent long, crossfield kick from Jack Forrest found Spencer wide on the right wing, with no defender marking him all he had to do was catch the ball and touch down
Hooker Harrison Dakin got the second half up and running as he dived over for his 16th try of the season and Frank Taggart’s well-timed pass saw Forrest romp away to the try line uncontested for an excellent try which Ed Hartley converted to extend the hosts’ lead to 29-12.
However Colchester cut that to 29-24 going int the last 15 minutes.
With six minutes left to play, Jack Lake received a yellow card and things were looking decidedly bleak for Raiders.
But their 14-man defence soaked up each attack and Hartley slotted a long-range penalty to ensure some breathing space.
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