Oxfordshire’s first season in the top flight is on a knife-edge after they went down 22-14 away to Lancashire at East Challow Royal British Legion in their penultimate fixture.

It means they must now win their final match against fellow strugglers Glamorgan to stay in the Premier Division of the Inter-Counties League.

Oxon got off to a poor start on Saturday as their ladies B team lost 5-1, their only win coming from Babs Manning.

However, the men’s B side put in a good performance and reduced the deficit with a 7-5 victory.

Andy Thomas, Simon Tricker, Les Radford, Sean Holley, man-of-the-match Pete Fisher (26.84 average), Graham Manning and Wes Topley were their winners.

On Sunday, the ladies A match finished in a 3-3 draw, Oxon’s successes coming from lady-of-the-match Louise Carroll (19.27), Linda Jones and Julie Newman.

That left the men’s A with too much to do against the county who are second in the table, and they went down 9-3.

A familiar problem emerged again as missed doubles cost Oxon dearly, five of their games resulting in 3-2 defeats.

Man-of-the-match Pete Hall (26.08), Roger Haines and Olly Varney were their victors.

Oxon are eighth in the table with one game left away to Glamorgan, who are three points behind, on April 25-26.