By Adam Hunter

The relegation clash between Sutton & Epsom and Bournemouth came to a premature end on Saturday as power failure at the Surrey club’s ground called a halt to proceedings after just 63 minutes of play.

Shortly before the first of two interruptions, Sutton & Epsom prop Theo Skoumbourdis had crossed from short range to put his team in the lead. Initially the problem looked to have been fixed, but after the lights went out a second time the referee called time. Deeming the match complete, he declared the home team victors by 20-15.

The decision to abandon the match was straightforward as the pitch and stands were suddenly plunged into darkness. But Bournemouth will feel aggrieved that the score at the time of the stoppage should stand as the final result.

Back-page editors might be tempted towards glib headlines such as “Lights out on Bournemouth’s survival hopes”.

But the decision was controversial as RFU regulations state that a match abandoned after 60 minutes or more of play should be deemed complete only in the event that weather is the reason for the abandonment. According to regulation 13, if there is any other reason to cut a match short, “the result of that match shall be reviewed and determined by the Organising Committee” who “may order the match to be replayed”.

At the time of the decision, a spokesman for Lions tweeted simply that this was a “very disappointing end to a game”.

To lose such a close contest in this way will come as a double blow to a club that needed to pick up points against their nearest rivals and contenders for relegation. Victory takes Sutton & Epsom to 13th place on 17 league points, with Bournemouth stuck at the foot of the table on 8 points, 7 behind Westcliff in 15th.

This was a big opportunity for the Dorset side to make up ground, and that it was taken from them under dubious circumstances will hurt the players and coaches who have put so much into training in recent weeks. A key run of fixtures against bottom-half opposition leading up to Christmas has begun in dispiriting fashion.

The opening 40 minutes were closely contested, with Lions opening up a 0-6 lead inside 10 minutes thanks to two penalties from the flawless boot of scrum-half Grant Hancox. A try for hometown full-back Sam Hurley on the quarter-hour was followed by an exchange of penalties that saw Bournemouth stretch out to a 10-15 lead. But as has been the case too many times this campaign, a lapse in concentration for the visitors allowed replacement lock Izaiah Moore-Aiono over for a try to level the scores on the stroke of half-time.

The only action on the scoreboard in a tense and curtailed second period was the try from Skoumbourdis that turned out to be the winner.

At the time of writing as per regulations the result is currently been reviewed Organising Committee and we await their decision.