Good weather brought out a 1,300-strong crowd including a sizeable Scottish contingent that had made the short journey down from Richmond, but the match remained scoreless until 25 minutes when Esher full back Sam Ulph slotted over a penalty. Opposite number Frankie Neale had an opportunity to level the scores a couple of minutes later, but missed the mark with his penalty attempt.

The hosts extended their lead five minutes before the interval, profiting from temporary numerical superiority following the sin-binning of Scottish hooker Tom Standfield with a try from scrum half Garrick Cowley, although Ulph was unable to add the conversion, putting Esher in 8-0 ahead at the break.

Shortly after the restart, however, Scottish were right back in the match, winger David Howells picking up after an Esher handling error and sprinting half the length of the pitch to touch down under the posts, setting Neale up with an easy conversion chance which the full back duly slotted over.

Then, on 52 minutes, Esher extended their lead, winger Jonathon Hylton diving for the line in the left-hand corner as Ian McInroy desperately tried to get his hand to the ball first, and after consulting with his touch judge to confirm that the ball had been properly grounded, referee Luke Pearce awarded the try.
Again, Scottish bounced back, skipper Gary Trueman scoring in the left corner and Neale sending a over difficult conversion kick from the touchline to put the visitors 14-13 ahead, and subsequently adding three more points with a 40-metre penalty.

With 13 minutes left, Ulph clawed three points back for Esher after Scottish were penalised in front of their own posts, and with the score at 17-16 for the visitors the stage was set for a grandstand finish.
It was the hosts that got the vital score five minutes from time, centre Sebastian Jewell going down the right and evading a couple of desperate tackles to touch down under the posts and Ulph converting to put his side 23-17 ahead. With the clock ticking down, Scottish pushed for the try that, if converted, would have given them victory, but were unable to achieve the breakthrough.

London Scottish head coach Brett Taylor said he was "really proud of the boys and how they stuck in. A lot of the rugby press were touting a five-pointer for the Esher side, and we came away with a bonus point. Unfortunately we didn't get four, but we came away with something. We're a squad that is continually improving, and we've made progress in each game".
Taylor added that the match highlighted just how competitive life is in National 1. "We were leading by a point with five minutes left. The difference between winning and losing in this league is we missed one tackle and they took the opportunity to go and score. You don't get many chances at this level - they got into our 22 five times, we got into theirs four times, and when you get there you've got to come away with something".

Next Saturday, Scottish play host to Nuneaton at the Athletic Ground. Like Scottish, the Warwickshire side have had a mixed start to the season, with two wins and two defeats, going down 35-22 yesterday at home to Redruth.