READING Abbey head coach Luke Harding was left frustrated after a poor first-half display cost them in a 24-5 Southern Counties North defeat to Windsor, writes Richard Ashton.

The hosts had in fact started brightly, but after 15 minutes Windsor took control with two tries in rapid order.

Firstly, wing Lewis Budd sprinted in from 35 metres, and almost immediately a loose ball was hacked forward and collected by Ben Grant-Adamson who touched down.

Jack Gaylor converted both, before the full back added a try of his own, another two points and a penalty with the final play of the half to all but wrap the game up at 24-0.

And Harding told the Chronicle: "We talked about physicality and Windsor in that first half beat us up up front.

"They won the battle in attack and defence, we sat back and allowed them to do that.

"The talk at half-time was 'how are we going to be physically stronger to make sure when we have the ball we knock them backwards and take the gain line? In defence how do we apply pressure?"

He continued: "It's frustrating we didn't perform in the first half.

"We started brightly for the first 10 minutes, but we couldn't hold it. They were able to capitalise on our mistakes and our one-on-one tackles were not good enough.

"It gave them too many opportunities and if you do that with a team like Windsor they'll punish you."

Abbey did respond in the second half as the rain continued to pour down at Rose Hill, scoring the only try of the half through replacement back row Max Courtnage.

However, it was too little, too late, albeit Harding took some pleasure from the second half.

He said: "Strong words were said at half time not just from me, but from the players themselves.

"We knew we were in a fight and we had to work out how we were going to beat them. Windsor are a good outfit, but we've got to take some positives.

"We showed we can score against a team who I thought had a very good defence. They filled the field well, they tackled hard, but we left it too late to make our mark on the game."

Reading Abbey do not have a game this weekend, returning to action at Slough on Saturday, October 20.