CINDERFORD 29 NEWBURY 13

CINDERFORD relieved some of the pressure from the National One relegation zone with a bonus-point win over Newbury.

The Foresters were already on course for victory before Blues prop Chris Rowland was sent off in first-half added time for tussling with Cinderford's Andy Deacon.

Nothing could separate the sides for 25 minutes with Newbury fly-half Mitch Burton kicking his side in front with a 28th minute penalty after missing 16 minutes earlier.

Five minutes later Cinderford secured their first try and with it their entire performance lifted as the pressure and nervousness they had shown for half an hour drained away.

Kiwi stand-off Matty James kicked to touch from halfway and Cinderford won the line-out and deployed a rolling maul with openside Chris McNeil spinning off to score.

After kicking 11 points on Wednesday night to return Cinderford to the County Cup final, full-back Danny Trigg landed a fantastic conversion.

Cinderford's transformation and renewed confidence continued from the kick-off with number eight George Evans breaking out his 22 and earning a kickable penalty for Trigg which he dispatched on 34 minutes.

The flashpoint came six minutes later when a collapsed scrum on halfway saw Rowland unleash punches on Deacon on the floor.

The touch judge spotted it and if there was any doubt what colour the card would be, the blood flowing from Deacon's forehead made up the referee's mind.

Cinderford immediately took advantage, with James finding touch and the forwards setting up good field position.

The ball found James who spotted Ollie Winterbottom cutting a good line and he let Trigg in at the corner with the full-back converting again.

Cinderford were looking good for a bonus point after turning around 17-3 at half-time but a number of chances were spurned.

Burton added his second penalty before James got Cinderford's third try.

Trigg missed but the bonus point was secured when centre Paul Boston made it to the line with Trigg on target. Newbury's Martin Freeman got a try two minutes later with Burton improving it.

CINDERFORD: D Trigg; O Winterbottom, P Boston, D Knight, K Palm; M James, D Pointon; P Kennedy, J Meadows, A Deacon; E King, C Jones; W Foden, C McNeil, G Evans. Reps: L Fortey, S Knight, M Panaho, L Plummer, T Stevenson.

NEWBURY: C Perry; C Ridgers, M Freeman, G Turner, K Buttle; M Burton, J Avery; C Rowland, C Mcgrath, K Palma-Newport; D Hodge, I Ascroft-Leigh; P Fricken, J Bentall, F Coxon-Smith. T Fidler, R Green, A Widdop, A Gale.

STAR MAN: Cinderford's Danny Trigg