CINDERFORD suffered a narrow defeat at Chinnor in another thrilling encounter between the two sides.

Trailing by just four points with nearly half an hour to go, the Foresters looked as if they might come away with the spoils in a tense finish.

But the Oxfordshire side dug deep to defend two late line-outs against a Cinderford side who gave their all and earn themselves five precious points.

The home side were quickly into the attack and a kick ahead bounced very kindly for Josh Hodson to open the scoring with an unconverted try.

A penalty kicked into the corner then set up an attacking lineout for Chinnor and the catch and drive saw Max Heathman touch down for a try, which Tom Price converted.

Cinderford finally started to build some momentum and a perfectly judged cross-field kick from Mike Wilcox was gathered by Morgan Adderley-Jones who scored a try, which Mike Austin converted.

The Forest team now enjoyed their best spell of the match, with Dec Fissenden scoring from a driving maul.

They then scored the try of the game as Austin finished off a sweeping move, to score a try which he also converted before kicking a penalty to make it 12-22 to his team at the interval.

The home side were on top for the majority of the second-half and they soon cut the deficit when Hodson went over for his second try, which Price converted.

Reece Marshall regained the lead for Chinnor after 67 minutes when he was driven over the line for his team’s bonus point try, with Price again adding the extras.

There was still to be late drama however as Cinderford took advantage of their opponent’s indiscipline to set a 5m line-out in injury time, but the ball was knocked-on, and the final whistle sounded immediately.

Cinderford: Jamie Forrester, Will Baldwin, George Gladding, George Boulton, Morgan Adderley-Jones, Mike Wilcox, Mike Austin, George Porter, Nathan Taylor, Shaun Knight, Tyler Jerrum, Jonny Holliday, Matt Lane, Dec Fissenden, George Angell.

Replacements: Tim Brockett, Joe Smart, Sam Baker, Dan Hodge, Jimmy Williams.

Cinderford United were once again on good form as they overcame a spirited challenge from Old Bristolians.

Will Anderson scored a hat-trick of tries, with other scores from Tom Samak two, Joe Mullis and Mattie Cotton. Joe Langbridge converted all seven.