Witney 14, Grove 26

Grove kept their promotion hopes alive and virtually extinguished Witney's with a decisive victory in a rugged Southern Counties North clash at Hailey Road on Saturday.

A burst of scoring either side of half-time put Grove 26 points clear, but Witney rallied in the final quarter with two converted tries to make the final scoreline a fairer reflection of the game.

A drier than usual Witney pitch allowed the Grove backs to show their paces, while the home side suffered from some strict refereeing.

At the end of a scrappy first half, having played into a biting wind, Grove were only six points in front, courtesy of two penalties from Nick Sevier.

Witney, whose forwards had the edge in the set-pieces, must have fancied their chances, with Francis Grant expected to make the most of the favourable wind.

But it was a mistake by the experienced fly half that set the Grove ball rolling in the 42nd minute, when he missed touch with a penalty.

Grove flanker Ben Nicholl gathered on his own 25 and opened up play. The ball went along the line, until halfway, where centre Kevin Wood fed debutant winger Chris Thomas.

The former Newbury man cut through the Witney defence with an angled run and opened the way for fly half Ben Dean to finish from 20 yards.

It was a brilliant try, which Sevier converted to put Grove 13-0 up.

Witney, who showed plenty of ambition to open it out, tried to play catch-up, but instead only went further behind.

Sevier kicked his third penalty, and then produced a crunching tackle on his opposite number Phil Elwood as he attempted to launch a counter-attack. The ball ran free and Gareth Hudson picked up to run over for the easiest of tries from 25 metres.

Sevier followed the conversion with another penalty, and Grove, for whom Mike Turner had a storming game at flanker, were suddenly 26-0 in front.

Witney, who had both flanker Will Worrall and No 8 Martin Lyall sin-binned for persistent killing of the ball, could feel hard done by.

But they did not flag and the outstanding Worrall throughly deserved his two close-range tries in the last ten minutes, both of which Elwood converted.

The title decider is likely to be Grove's clash at home to leaders Oxford Harlequins on Saturday week.

Witney, for whom this was their first home defeat, will be hoping that one of the top two slip up and let them in for second place and a play-off for promotion.

Witney: Elwood, Phillips, Murray, Martin, Blacker, Grant (Hollick 65), Austen, Aldridge, Merriman (capt), Leatherbarrow, J Williams, Hicks, G Williams (Hills HT), Worrall, Lyall (Hills 20-22).

Grove: Sevier, Thomas, Wood (Inns 54), James (capt), Hudson, Dean, P Maryon, Eckert, Barbour, Wood, S Maryon, Evans, Turner, Nicholl, Smart.

Referee: R Woods (Hants).