Stortford's much changed front five started strongly gaining an early edge at the scrums but, ironically, Cinderford, noted for their forward strength looked the livelier outfit with ball in hand. This was evident, when the home side conceded a breakdown penalty on halfway and the visitors mounted a vigorous attack, quickly forcing another penalty, from which livewire scrumhalf, Tom Knight took a quick tap and dashed in through an off-balance Stortford defence for a try under the posts from 20 metres out. The home side enjoyed the better of play for an extended period, but were unable to break down a stubborn Cinderford defence. It, therefore, took an error by the visitors in midfield for Stortford to level the scores, when Chris Smith intercepted a looping pass in midfield and was able to dash in for a try converted by Connor Lloyd. Stortford failed to clear their lines from the restart, though and immediately concede a penalty, which Joe Winfield converted, as he did 7 minutes later, when Harry Charter was also sent to the sin bin for a breakdown offence close to his own line. The home side fought back, though and a clever rolling kick ahead by Tom Walker allowed Jake Morris to outpace his opposite number to gather and touch down out wide. Lloyd made a great touchline conversion to send his side into the break with a flattering one point lead.

The second half started perfectly for Stortford, when Harrison Langworthy charged down an attempted clearance from the restart kick and followed up to touch down, with Lloyd, once more, adding a tremendous touchline conversion. One of only a handful of penalties for high tackles proved very costly for the home team some 10 minutes later, when Cinderford resorted to their traditional lineout maul strength to exert pressure from the first lineout on Stortford's 22, forcing another penalty close to the line and a further well-organised lineout drill saw Nathan Taylor in for a comfortable try at the back of his pack. Eight minutes later, Stortford tried the same tactic, spurning an eminently kickable penalty to go for touch. Unable, though to match the opposition's ability to shift the line of drive through the maul, Cinderford were able to snuff out the attack. With their tails now up, the visitors poured forward again and, despite some more determined defence inside their own 22, Stortford conceded another penalty, which was well converted by Winfield. The home side fought back and Ollie Jones rounded off the team's best move of the game, touching down after supporting inside a tremendous run down the wing by James Ayrton, after the ball had been moved swiftly along the backline. With time running out, a penalty, conceded at a home scrum, as the ball flew out on their side well outside their own 22 proved decisive, as an aggressive touch kick flew just the right side of the corner flag from Cinderford's point of view for another 5 metre lineout. Once more, the visitors' well-drilled driving maul proved irresistible and Taylor registered his second of doubtless many more tries this season to level the scores. The ever reliable boot of Winfield provided the conversion as the last action of the game to secure the narrowly deserved win for his team.

Our thanks go to today's Matchday Sponsors, Tees, long time major supporters of the Club, as are BIT Solutions who sponsored the Man of the Match award, which went to centre, Austin Pope .