READING Abbey pushed South West One East title-chasers Old Patesians hard before ultimately falling to a 26-11 defeat in Gloucestershire.

In an entertaining and closely contested game, Abbey briefly held the lead on the half hour and were in contention, if not for the win, at least for losing bonus points almost to the finish.

Head coach Fungai Mutepfa rued the mistakes which gave Pats the game, commenting: “We need to cut out errors, and learn from our mistakes. At crucial times we needed to move up a gear, but couldn’t find it – they found it when they needed it.”

The hosts took an early lead when wing Duncan Spurrier went over out wide for the first try, too far out for kicker Luke Offa to take the extras.

Abbey hit back with two Ollie Walton penalties which put Abbey in front on the half hour, but the home side moved back in front as back rower Josh Stevens was driven over for a try from a rolling maul. Offa again missed the conversion, but made amends with a penalty goal two minutes shy of half-time.

The home side were first to add to their score with a penalty from Offa after the break. Walton was off target with two difficult penalty goal attempts, but it was a Gavin Dampies’ try that narrowed the scores to within five points. Jules Greenaway had linked well with his centres, then a well-judged chip forward bounced awkwardly for the Pats’ defence and Dampies got the touch down.

Rosehill supporters might have considered the bonus point in the bag, and winning a possibility, but Old Pats secured the win with just 10 minutes left when full-back Jimmy Gahan, always their most potent runner, found the gaps to run in two late unconverted tries.

Reading Abbey host second-bottom Oxford Harlequins this Saturday (2.15pm).

l READING Abbey Ladies thrashed Windsor Dames 34-0 on Sunday.

It was a frustrating first half for Dave Swan’s side, but they went in front just before the break as the Nuns utilised the full width of the pitch and the ball fell to Alice Denton, who finally crossed in the corner.

Annette Tomas doubled the score early in the second half, latching onto a well-timed offload from Jess Potter before dummying the defender to run in and score.

Second-row Natalie Mitchell went over for the Nuns’ third, before the in-form Tomas dummied again to go over and then completed her hat-trick soon after, mustering enough strength to ground the ball when tackled on the line to make it 29-0.

Flanker Abi Wall completed the scoring to ensure Abbey clinched yet another deserved bonus point on the back of their fine second-half showing.