Wimbledon gave themselves a major boost with their first victory of 2008 - a 13-11 success over fellow London Two South strugglers Guildford on Saturday, writes Terence Bagworth.

In truth Guildford had their chances, but an off-form goal kicker was their downfall, striking the post both from a penalty and a conversion.

In the dying seconds he also missed a drop kick just to the right of the posts that could have won it for Guildford.

For all that, Wimbledon stuck to their tasks and tackled superbly, winger Jonny Rawlinson in particular making several important challenges.

The highlight of the game was the 77th-minute tackle by open-side Kirk Rutherford on Guildford's right wing just as he was about to cross the line.

The return of hooker Oliver Sheer was another bonus for Wimbledon, who opened the scoring from a penalty near the posts by Greg Cushing after the opening move of the game.

Although Guildford missed a chance to level when a penalty hit the post, they were soon in front thanks to an unconverted try out wide from flanker O'Neill and a further penalty saw them lead 8-3 at half-time.

The home team were also fortunate when a yellow card on Guildford prop for hands in a ruck gave them the opportunity of playing against 14 men for 10 minutes. This led to Wimbledon's try and conversion scored by Cushing after runs by scrum-half Dan South, centre Will Davies and Rawlinson. The number of penalties that Wimbledon concede for various reasons, but often for not releasing after the tackle, is a lot to do with their lowly league position, in this game the count went against them once again. But for all that the first victory of 2008 was well deserved and confidence is now much higher as the result.

Wimbledon's 2nd XV also won, this time away at Tring, and the Strollers XV won away at Met. Police on Friday evening.

Next Saturday Wimbledon will be away at 4th placed Maidstone, but with the confidence that another victory can be earned. The kick-off will be at 2.30pm.