CHELMSFORD pulled off a dramatic 19-18 win away to Luton deep into injury time.

Scrum half Ben Bayley’s cooly-taken penalty secured the London One North victory.

The visitors took a 13-3 first half lead but Luton clawed it back to 13-11 at the break.

The Bedfordshire hosts then took the lead with 30 minutes left and hung on until Bayley’s heroics at the death.

“We did not get going today, as the game was a stop start affair,” said director of coaching Eddie Gooby.

“We could not build up much momentum throughout the game, coupled with too many individual errors.

“Credit to Luton they played to their strengths and caused us a few problems. What was really pleasing for me was the never say die attitude and the inner belief that we can win tight games.”

Chelmsford were missing key players, including Jamie Ash, Simon Hoult and Chris Hoult, and saw Seth Robinson go off with an ankle injury.

Luton took the lead with a penalty but Chelmsford equalised through a Bayley penalty Will Ferrier scored an unconverted try to make it 8-3 before a push-over try from skipper Paul Redford put them 13-3 up. Luton hit back with a penalty and then made it 13-11 with an unconverted try.

The second half was more even but Bayley’s penalty put Chelmsford 16-11 up but Luton took an 18-16 lead with a converted try.

But Bayley’s penalty ensured a win for Chelmsford ahead of this week’s home match against Thurrock on Saturday (2pm).