Finsbury Park head coach Gareth Chapman is absolutely delighted to be sitting top of the Herts/Middlesex One table as they head into the cup break, writes Jacob Ranson.

Park are now three points clear at the summit after picking up a huge 56-0 victory over Staines, while title rivals Hitchin lost 18-10 to Hendon.

And the coach has now pinned their next league fixture away to Actonians on Saturday, January 26 as a vital match.

“Our next league match when it comes round is now huge because we now have something to protect and need to make sure we stay there for the rest of the season,” Chapman said.

“It’s in our hands as they say – having played all these teams now, we know a little bit about them, and obviously the aim is to use what we’ve learnt, but also keep playing our own game.”

Chapman admitted he was thrilled for his side to pick up a clean sheet after working so hard in training all week on their defensive play.

“It was an absolute brilliant weekend, we worked on defence last week and we had a conversation around it before the game,” he added.

“A lot of games this season we’ve just let in a couple of tries here and there, and the aim of the weekend was to see if we could keep a clean sheet, so it’s brilliant to come out with it.”

The former player was also surprised to see Hitchin slip up to Hendon last weekend, but knew one of the challengers had to suffer a setback at some stage.

“We were looking at it thinking we can only do what we can do, and then we’ll just see if Hitchin can keep it going as well,” said Chapman.

“They had a hard game against Barnet and they lost on the weekend as well, so it just shows no matter what league you’re in, it’s always hard to keep that winning mentality going.

“There are good teams in every area and league, so it’s always hard.”