NEWBURY Blues ended their South West One East season on a high with a nailbiting 18-16 victory at Maidenhead RFC.

The home side – who had gone into the contest on the back of a fantastic win against Witney – made a brilliant as they took advantage of some poor tackling to grab a fourth-minute try.

Both sides tried to play some enterprising rugby but the following 20 minutes were littered with mistakes before Richard West knocked over a penalty to put Newbury on the scoreboard.

However, Maids restored their five-point advantage with a Steve Moir kick shortly afterwards, and the fly-half then took advantage of more Newbury indiscipline to make the score 11-3 after 29 minutes.

The remainder of the half continued to follow the pattern of play with some incisive play eventually stubbed out because of an error or good defence.

Moir missed another attempted penalty shortly before the break but his side went into half time with an eight-point advantage.

The hosts were reduced to 14 men early in the second half following an infringement at the ruck, and Newbury made their advantage tell as a period of sustained pressure culminated with Toby Thorne breaking through several tackles to touch down, before West slotted the conversion to make it 11-10.

And the visitors took the lead shortly after following a slick passing move which involved Joe Pigott, West, Dan Thorne and eventually Josh Bartlett, who ran in from 30 yards for his side’s second try. West’s conversion drifted wide to leave Newbury four points to the good.

However, Maidenhead hit back bravely and, after kicking a penalty to the corner, their forwards rumbled across the try-line following a powerful rolling maul which put them 16-15 in front with 10 minutes remaining.

With their pack on top, Maids again drove forward but their maul was eventually halted when another score would probably have sealed the game.

And they were made to pay for a moment of indiscipline with just two minutes remaining as they conceded a penalty at a line-out.

The nerveless West stepped up and hammered home a long-range kick to put his side in front, and they held on to seal a narrow victory against a stubborn Maidenhead side who battled to the end.

The win saw Newbury finish sixth in the league table with 15 wins and 11 losses and they will be aiming to improve on that position next season.

Thatcham RFC< THATCHAM RFC’s season ended with a whimper in a 28-24 defeat at Alchester in Southern Counties North on Saturday. Neither side had much to play for with Thatcham assured of a mid-table spot and Alchester already relegated.

Thatcham fielded a changed side with several championship-winning members of the second team squad performing and a creditable first-team debut for Jack Moore at lock.

A Luke Evans try, converted by Dan Tingle, gave Thatcham the lead and they added a second when Liam Rowland dotted down.

Alchester hit back with a penalty and converted try to trail 12-10 at the break and went ahead with a penalty after the restart.

Skipper Mark Smith replied with a try to give Thatham a 19-13 lead, only for Alchester to respond with two touchdowns of their own to go 28-19 ahead, rendering a late Rowland score a mere consolation for the visitors.