Saints 22 London 28

FORTRESS Knowsley Road was toppled for the first time this season as Saints slumped to their fourth defeat in five matches after another lacklustre, error-strewn attacking display.

Even the return of skipper Paul Sculthorpe, after a three-game absence with a leg injury, failed to inject much sparkle into a side seemingly bereft of ideas with the ball in hand.

How they are missing suspended Sean Long - or going back even further a creative half back like Tommy Martyn, who can pose questions and conjure up options rather than simply working through the set and then predictably putting boot to ball on the sixth tackle.

Unfortunately, Saints' poor ball control and ill-discipline added to their woes as it rapidly turned into another one of those nights.

Hard-working London did not particularly come up with anything special - they, or rather hat-trick hero Dennis Moran, simply ruthlessly exploited the scraps that were thrown at them.

No wonder coach Ian Millward looked bitterly disappointed afterwards.

He said: "We lost because of our errors, our poor completion rate and by being naive at times. We just did not have the ball because of our errors.

"Defensively we got stuck into them, but we gave penalties away at vital stages."

It had all looked so easy after only five minutes when Jason Hooper stormed onto Willie Talau's fine inside ball to touch down.

Moran snatched quick brace tries, poaching the first after reading Sculthorpe's mind and then skipping onto Rob Purdham's pass to add a second from 40 metres.

After a prolonged period of pressure, resulting from some well-placed grubbers Wellens, again Saints' best player, crashed onto Keiron Cunningham's pass to touch down

But stand-off Paul Sykes' scything run cut a swathe through the Saints defence to put the visitors back in front ahead of the half time break.

Although Darren Albert cashed in on Saints' old boy John Kirkpatrick's spillage of Sculthorpe's precision cross-field bomb to cut the deficit to two points, it was another false dawn.

But then frustration set in - on and off the park - with two Sykes penalties for high shots giving London the crucial six point cushion.

Sculthorpe's desperate grubber not only lacked an effective chase, but it went straight into the grateful arms of Moran.

He picked up and sped the full length of the field to touch down and effectively seal Saints' fate - although Saints fans roared their disapproval as the chasing Albert appeared to be obstructed.

There was time for a late consolation when Chris Joynt magnificently off-loaded out of the tackle to send Talau waltzing in at the corner.

But it was not enough to lift the spirits of the dejected faithful among Saints' lowest league crowd of the season.