London Welsh's dramatic 21-14 win at Jersey brought a welcome change in late fortune for the Exiles this season in the Championship, writes Damian Dolan.

Twice Welsh have suffered agonising late defeats – both times to London Scottish with the most recent coming on February 6 – so Saturday's last-gasp victory was most welcome for the Exiles, and try scorer Chris Elder.

The full back was on hand to finish off a sweeping Welsh move from the game's final play, which saw the Exiles attack from their own ten-metre line.

Ryan Glynn's quick tap penalty released Josh Drauniniu who beat one man and drew three more, before slipping the ball to Elder to run in under the posts.

"We've been involved in a few late finishes and they've all gone against us, so it was nice to finish last Saturday's match like that and be on the right end of the result for a change,” said Elder.

"Josh did really well for the try. It was a well worked move that we'd be looking to try and use against them and he really did his part incredibly well.

"So I have to give that try to me. I had a very, very easy run in in the end after he had three guys hanging off him on the floor, thinking they'd managed to tackle him, whereas he'd actually managed to get the ball out to me.”

Leading 14-3 at the break, having had first use of a strong wind, the Exiles were forced to absorb a lot of Jersey pressure in the second half, with the home side eventually drawing level in the 62nd minute.

But Welsh continued to show the same fighting spirit and application so evident in their recent matches against Scottish and Nottingham.

"The fight, determination and mind-set we've shown in the last few weeks has been a step above what we've shown previously this season. It's really shown in our performances and I hope it carries through to this weekend and beyond,” said Elder.

"The Nottingham win was massive for us. We were in control throughout that game and always felt we could win it, and once you know you can get into that position it feeds into your performances in future games.

"That helped in the latter stages against Jersey, especially when we were up against it in the second half playing into the wind.”

The pendulum looked to have swung decisively in the home side's favour when the Exiles were reduced to 14 men with eight minutes to go with prop Ben Cooper seeing yellow.

However, the visitors refused to buckle under the pressure and continued to try and play, and look for the win themselves.

"We seem to be able to draw off the fact that we need to work even harder and boys just put their bodies on the line,” added Elder.

"It was backs to the wall for much of the second half, and towards the end our belief really shone through. Once they levelled we knew we had to go for it and get some points ourselves and I think that's a better way to play.

"In the last ten minutes we looked the more attacking team and the more likely to go on and make the breakthrough. We started to make a few breaks, really got over the gain-line and made some space. We kept trying and kept pushing it, and it paid off right at the end.”

Welsh's recent upturn in form over their last three matches comes on the back of arguably their lowest point of the season – a 64-20 loss at Bedford Blues.

"The Bedford game was a serious wake up call. It just wasn't good enough and it was up to us to fix it, which brought the fight into the London Scottish game," said Elder.

"Having proved we had the fight we then built on it against Nottingham by adding control to our game. The belief is now there and hopefully we can carry it through the rest of the season."

With five rounds to go in the Greene King IPA Championship, and Welsh now up to seventh, Elder believes the Exiles can build on their recent good form and continue to climb the table.

"There are teams above us who are within reach and if we keep performing like we have been over the past few weeks we should be able to put ourselves in a much more comfortable position in the table, and do ourselves a little bit of justice,” added Elder.