Scottish Claymores..27 England Monarchs..24

Gary Parker kept his nerve when it mattered most to give the Scottish Claymores a last-minute victory over England Monarchs at Murrayfield yesterday.

Parker, who had missed a field-goal in the final seconds of the Claymores' season opener at Barcelona Dragons which cost them victory, made amends to keep the Claymores' season flickering.

The Claymores trailed 24-21 with just one minute and 17 seconds of the match remaining, but two field goals from the boot of Parker sealed victory.

It also confirmed how far the Scotland A rugby cap has come in his relatively short spell of kicking an American football as he now looks assured and confident every time he steps up.

It required nerves of steel yesterday as the Claymores ended a three-match losing sequence against the Monarchs.

It looked a familiar hard luck tale with England threatening to steal it in the final minute, but the Claymores defensive tackle Steve Brannon forced a fumble on Monarchs quarterback Josh LaRocca and it was recovered by Brad Keeney with just 36 seconds left.

It gave the Claymores the turnover they needed but they had lost quarterback Jim Ballard on their previous drive with a recurrence of his shoulder injury.

However, stand-in Mark Grieb hooked up with receiver Chris Miller, who had an excellent match, on the Monarchs 11-yard line and Parker was left with a field-goal to win the match with just four seconds left.

His initial effort was beaten out, but Monarchs were penalised for lining up in the neutral zone and, much to the delight of the 9213 crowd, Parker was given another chance.

This time, from 22 yards, his kick was true and as it went between the posts it killed off the Monarchs' hopes of reaching the World Bowl.

''When I saw the ball go between the posts it was the elation I got from looking at everyone else's face that gave me pleasure,'' the kicker said afterwards.

''The posts looked 50 feet wide whereas sometimes they look two feet wide in these situations.

''The only pressure I had was the thought of the coach's size 11s if I missed.

''In sport, you're either a hero or a villain and I've experienced both this year.''

It will still take a remarkable sequence of results for the Claymores to reach the World Bowl, but this team is playing with a lot of self-belief and recent recruit Vernon Turner looks the part.

The running back, snapped up from Frankfurt Galaxy where a clash of personalities with coach Dick Curl left him on the sidelines, rushed for 111 yards and two touchdowns and played like a man with a point to prove.

The Claymores were never in front until Parker's final field-goal, but showed great spirit to keep fighting back.

The Monarchs drew first blood when running back Victor Muhammed ran in for a touchdown on their first drive with Rob Hart kicking the extra point.

The Claymores drew level before the end of the first quarter with a quarterback sneak from Ballard at the end of an 80-yard nine-play drive.

Parker did his usual expert job with the point after kick.

But the Monarchs kept the heat on with LaRocca picking out receiver Alan Allen with an inspired 36-yard pass into the endzone.

Hart kicked the extra point to make it 14-7 before the end of the quarter.

Turner then ran in for his first touchdown midway through the second quarter with Parker tying up the scores with the point after.

Monarchs were back in front again before the end of the first half when LaRocca hooked up with Shawn Turner with a seven-yard touchdown pass which Hart converted.

Vernon Turner notched his second touchdown in the third quarter with Parker again kicking accurately to level the scores at 21-21.

Then, in the final quarter, Don Silvestri made a 42-yard field goal to put England 24-21 ahead.

It set up the script for Parker to finally provide a happy ending for the Claymores.