Wimbledon's hopes of avoiding relegation from London Two South suffered a cruel jolt as a last-minute try saw them beaten 19-15 at bottom side Sevenoaks on Saturday, writes Tony Mann.

Dons had held the lead for most of the game, leading 15-0 at the break, but they simply ran out of steam in the second half.

The first half performance was so impressive that the Dons' half-time advantage should have much greater - a couple of golden opportunities by number 10 Max Wilcox going begging.

The Dons pack dominated their opposition in every aspect of the game apart from the lineout, with the front five rock solid and the back row, boosted by the welcome return from injury of number eight Ben Nightingale, in complete control around the fringes.

Their first try, after ten minutes of pressure was touched down by flanker Mark Cochrane after a fine drive from a 5m lineout and Wilcox added a penalty ten minutes later. Although in total control it was another 15 minutes before openside Kirk Rutherford scored the second try after scrum-half James Grafton had neatly stolen the ball from the base of a scrum.

But the writing was on the wall for Wimbledon just three minutes into the second half, when the Sevenoaks pack took advantage of a nonsense penalty awarded to them by a picky and inconsistent ref, and bundled over for try number one.

Whether it was nerves at the prospect of their first league win for a couple of months that got to Wimbledon, no one will ever know, but they were just not in the game after that.

They created the odd chance, but allowed the Sevenoaks pack, now bolstered by a couple of good half time substitutions, to dictate play. Somehow Dons kept them out until ten minutes from time, when the now dominant Sevenoaks forwards rolled over for their second try, the conversion bringing them to within three points of Wimbledon.

With play now entirely in Dons' 22, it looked just a matter of time before they clinched a deserved victory. And so it proved.

With relegation now virtually certain, perhaps the Wimbledon team can relax and get back to playing as a team and enjoying their rugby. And who knows, maybe they can spring a surprise against second-placed Haywards Heath at home next week. They have the players, that's for sure.