Oxford Harlequins 18 pts Weston 31 pts

WESTON produced an excellent performance to get their season back on track with this hard-fought victory at Oxford.

But during the first quarter, at the end of which they found themselves 10-3 adrift, it looked likely the match was going the way of their previous two league encounters.

After James Reid's well-struck 49-metre penalty, possession was turned over several times and two tries were conceded from driven line-outs.

There was also a shoulder injury to Luke Hember which forced him to retire, and the reshuffled back division saw Reid move in to scrum-half and Joe Ewens to No 10 with Sean Bennett coming off the bench to join T J Madamombe in the centre.

But by the 22nd minute, David Burge's pack had come to its senses and Ewens created space for a corner try by James Curgenven.

Peter Davis' penalty took Oxford's advantage to 13-8, but the match was levelled in first-half stoppage time when George Sparks broke from a scrum 10 metres out to run in unopposed.

Weston took the lead for the first time three minutes into the second half with another penalty by Reid, but injury struck again as Paul Sprague limped off with a groin injury.

Another positional re-arrangement saw flanker Michael Denbee moved to the wing and Denbee touched down at the left corner following a sweeping move.

The Seasiders were now 21-13 to the good, but Quins were not finished.

For the next 15 minutes they kept hold of the ball and had Weston's defence not been on full alert, they would have conceded more than Oxford's third try scored by Tim Knapp.

Match-saving tackles by Bryce Noble, Bennett and the ever-reliable Goran Vucicevic kept Weston's front door firmly closed, and in the 77th minute, as the hosts were desperately seeking another score, Paul Morrissey's timely intervention in an Oxford counter-attack provided the chance for Reid's third penalty.

There was still a chance for the hosts at 24-18, but Weston finished things off with a splendid score by Madamombe, created by Sparks and assisted by Reid, Denbee and Ewens, converted by Reid.

After the match, Weston's head coach Peter Sloman said: "The coaches and players recognised that last week's performance against Maidenhead was unacceptable, both in terms of effort and quality. It was important that we hit back straight away and the effort and application shown today was first class against a good side."

Weston: G Vucicevic; J Curgenven (sin-bin 72), T J Madamombe, J Ewens, P Sprague (A Richards 46); J Reid, L Hember (S Bennett 28); D Milenkovic, A Russell (sin-bin 89), M Denbee (sin-bin 28), G Sparks. Replacement not used: H Smith.