South West One

Reading 21 Weston-super-Mare 31

Scrum-half Ross Bennett and wing Kirk Middlemiss scored their first senior tries as Weston pulled off an unlikely victory at Sonning.

Having been defeated in their two home matches this term, and with several regulars absent, David Burge's team stepped up to the plate in an exceptional performance to win by five tries to three.

As is usual this season, the Seasiders made it hard for themselves by conceding 20 penalties during the match.

There were also yellow cards for Gavin Simpson and Andrew Ball, who appeared in the second row, but both made outstanding contributions.

Flanker Simpson, making his 100th first team appearance, was everywhere that he should have been and Ball, together with George Sparks, gave their team full production at the line-out.

Ball's catch and drive produced Andrew Richards' try in the 12th minute and in a bright start, Chris Young's break almost resulted in a score for T J Madamombe.

Reading replied with Chris Gibson's penalty, but the visitors increased their lead when the home backs' passing broke down and wing Chris Crichton sprinted admirably to the posts from 65 metres.

Young converted and after Simon Dyson scored at the left corner for the hosts, the Weston centre added the conversion to a try by skipper Burge, following Sparks' catch at a five-metre line-out.

Weston were looking good at the break at 19-8, but they quickly conceded 13 points during the third quarter.

Gibson kicked his second penalty after the re-start had been knocked-on and tries by Paul Fisher and Ben Sturge gave Reading a two-point advantage.

At this stage, the Seasiders were not exactly flat on the canvas, but they had taken a standing count.

When they recovered, Bennett darted down the narrow side of a scrum to touch down his kick ahead.

Five minutes later, full-back Harry Warman's accurate kick was gathered by Young, whose chip was hacked on by Middlemiss who scored at the posts and Young completed the scoring with his third conversion.

Apart from those conceded penalties, this was a much better effort by Weston, for whom flanker David Cook put in a fine defensive performance.

There were also good showings at set scrums by Neil Lavender, Hallam Smith and his replacement veteran Mark Matthews.

Reading scorers - tries: Simon Dyson, Paul Fisher, Ben Sturge; pens: Chris Gibson (2)

Weston-super-Mare: H Warman; C Crichton, T J Madamombe, C Young, K Middlemiss; J Reid, R Bennett; H Smith (M Matthews 65), A Ball (sinbin 75) (J Fareday 43-45), D Cook, G Simpson (sinbin 32), G Sparks

Weston-super-Mare scorers - tries: Andrew Richards, T J Madamombe, Kirk Middlemiss, Ross Bennett, David Burge; cons: Chris Young (3); yellow cards: Gavin Simpson (32 min), Andrew Ball (75 min).