Match report courtesy of the

Hosts Stoked by last-gasp victory

A SLIGHTLY lacklustre Maidenhead snatched defeat from the jaws of victory away to local rivals Basingstoke on Saturday.

Having nipped into a seemingly decisive lead in the final minute of normal time, a telegraphed pass from No.8 Greg Riley gifted Basingstoke flanker Simon Appleby an easy interception and the freedom of the pitch. His lightning break drew in the last vestiges of the defence, before the move was finished off by flying winger Karl Buttle.

The conversion handed the hosts a four-point lead, which they defended with aplomb to take a deserved victory.

It was tense finale to a fiercely contested and sometimes dour encounter, with Basingstoke's highly effective pack hogging both possession and territory for much of the match, while Maidenhead's superior backs gave their hosts the run around.

This was particularly evident in the first few minutes, when recent returnee Stuart Mackay burst into the Maidenhead line from the opposite wing and outpaced the home defence to score in the corner.

Having earlier traded penalties with Mike Goodall, Maids fullback Rob Hawkins missed the difficult conversion, leaving Maids with an 8-3 lead. The problem was, Maidenhead's talented three-quarters hardly saw the ball after that, as the hosts' pick-and-drive tactics restricted play to a tramline down the centre of the pitch.

One particularly relentless assault resulted in them taking the lead on 13 minutes, when bulky centre Myles Rutherford wriggled his way over between the posts, leaving Goodall to notch the extras. Eight minutes later the hosts stretched their lead, when a heel against the head released winger Dave Lambert, whose pace carried him clear for a converted try behind the posts.

A second Goodall penalty made it 20-8 soon after, and Maids looked rattled. Indeed, it took them until the stroke of half-time to mount a sensible response, when a routine heel and a fluent backs manoeuvre put Mackay in at the corner for his second score of the afternoon. Hawkins again missed the long-range conversion, leaving Maids trailing 20-13 at the break.

However, Maids exploded out of their blocks after the restart and pulled level within two minutes, when Hammond bobbed, ducked and weaved his way over the whitewash, converted by Hawkins to make it 20-20. Now it was Basingstoke's turn to come under the cosh, as Maidenhead's pack finally found a forward gear.

The increased supply of clean ball created plenty of chances, with young Alex Cannon fly-hacking the ball half the length of the pitch before it ran into touch, and Hammond knocking on just five yards short of the line, following a scintillating counter-attack by Mackay.

The pressure belatedly told on 67 minutes, when another regulation backs move put Max Willcocks over to the right of the posts, despite the close attention of two would-be tacklers.

With Hawkins retired to the bench, Danny Walton had a relatively simple conversion, but skewed it wide of the right-hand upright. With the match slipping away, Basingstoke rang the changes, with lock Russell Northcote and fly-half Matt Lucas making way for Chris Williams and Andy Patrick.

The changes had an immediate impact, when, after five minutes of forwards' pressure, prop Shane Murphy burst off the back of a ruck, sprinted through a paper-thin defence and touched down close to the posts. Goodall made sure of the conversion and Basingstoke were back in the driving seat.

However, with a minute of normal time remaining Maids seemed to have nicked it, when fly-half Mark Ruddick slid an inviting grubber kick down the blind side, and Cannon blew away his opposite number to score in the corner. Cannon missed his own conversion but the result appeared to be in the bag. Regaining possession from the restart, Maids pushed up to the Basingstoke 22 in search of the killer blow.

In hindsight, sticking the ball up their jumpers would have been the wise decision. But with the backs hungry for another score, Riley's attempt to spray the ball right played right into the hands of Appleby, whose break set up the winning score for Buttle.

There was still time for a quick reposte, but Basingstoke kept their heads and the ball  to deny Maids a last-gasp escape.

Maidenhead: Hawkins (for Cannon), Walton, Willcocks, Hammond, Mackay, Ruddick, Edwards, A Riley (for Johnston), Craig, Grove, Thomas, Mueller, G Riley, Parkhouse, Windeyer (for Lynch).

Basingstoke: Goodall, Lambert, Buckland, Rutherford, Buttle, Lucas (for Patrick), Lillywhite, Young, Rowlands, Murphy, Stirling, Northcote (for Williams), Appleby, Childs. Unused sub: Oliver.

MAIDENHEAD coach Simon Edwards was spitting tacks after Saturday's defeat at Basingstoke, blaming poor refereeing for his side's narrow defeat. He said: "The game could have gone either way, but I was left seething because the ref just wasn't up to it.

"He disallowed a perfectly good try for a forward pass, which I'm assured was at least a yard backwards. He was nowhere near play. "And the try that won it their No.7 was not scrummaging. He wasn't even bound. "The result was always going to be on a knife edge, with both sides cancelling each other out. "So I was very upset with the way we lost the game. I feel quite bitter about it. "Not the fact we lost because we lost to a good side. Fair play to them. "But it was poor refereeing decisions that cost us the game. "We had some poor decisions against Cleve but it didn't cost us the result. This time it did."

Continuing the theme, he added: "I believe Level 5 rugby has moved on hugely in recent years. Now we've got ex-pro players and academy players who haven't quite made it in the Premiership. "It's moved on a massive amount. It's of a similar quality to National 1 and 2 rugby from a couple of years ago. "But the refereeing just hasn't kept up."

As for the way forward, Edwards said: "We are a very good side at the moment. We just have to believe that, and be more ruthless in defence. "That's what we'll be working on this week, because if we don't get it sorted out before Saturday's game at Oxford it will happen again."