NEWBURY...25 SEDGLEY PARK...18 RFU National League Two: PARK travelled to Berkshire without the injured Jim Naylor, Hugh Thomas and Willie Stockdale and, as if to ingratiate themselves further with their hosts, presented Newbury with a try inside the first minute.

The ball was kicked into the hands of flanker Luke Walters, who ran through several weak tackles before putting Mal Roberts over for a gifted seven points.

Shortly afterwards, the home pack were penalised and Ryno Ueckermann converted to reduce the arrears.

Park then settled down to play some attractive rugby and were duly rewarded when Carlos Hassan put Ian Voortman in for an unconverted try to take them to within a point of Newbury.

From the re-start, Newbury put Park under pressure and were awarded a penalty for a high tackle.

Roberts' kick re-bounded from an upright, Newbury regained possession, and a deft cross-kick left Gary Leadbetter with a clear run to the line.

The game was being played at a furious pace, with only dropped passes or off-sides preventing either side from running in further tries.

Shortly before half-time, Ueckermann reduced the arrears to one point with a well taken penalty to take the score at the break to 12-11 to Newbury.

Newbury began the second half attacking the Park line, but resolute tackling kept them at bay, and Fourie, of all people, relieved the pressure with a good kick.

The third quarter continued with thrust and counter-thrust. Sedgley made two fine breaks through Voortman and Ueckermann, but on both occasions the opportunity was lost by a poor final pass.

Another Newbury attack was followed by another poor clearance kick, enabling Roberts to dummy through the Sedgley defence and put Alan Magno in at the corner.

Ueckermann's boot then put Sedgley deep into Newbury territory, but again poor passing allowed the defence to clear the danger.

A Roberts' penalty then stretched Newbury's lead to 20-11.

Further Sedgley pressure was yet again let down by poor passing and Newbury regained possession and territory, which enabled their back row to put Neil Collins in at the left corner for another try.

However, Park refused to give up and, following some good passing this time, Hassan put in a deft kick to the corner for Chris Glynn to collect and score a try, which Ueckermann converted to complete the scoring.

Sedgley Park lost this game by kicking badly to the opposition who, on three occasions, scored from such kicks.

The loss also allowed Nottingham to leapfrog Park into top spot - both teams have 30 points, but the Lace City side have a superior points differential.

If the club is to gain promotion, either as champions or runners-up, it will also have to fight off the challenge of third-placed Nuneaton, now just three points behind Park

With no game this Saturday - the second team host Harrogate in the Northern 2nd XV Championship, kick-off 2.30pm - the first team will be back in action on Saturday 28 February, when Rosslyn Park will be the visitors.