Swindon in the hunt (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Swindon in the hunt

SWINDON maintained their hopes of an end-of-season promotion play-off as they shrugged off the late loss of fly-half Stuart Cock to defeat to win 20-14 at Chipping Norton in Berks, Bucks & Oxon One.

Cock was ruled out of the clash after his wife Lisa gave birth to son Findlay in the early hours of Saturday morning but Andy Minturn, making his full debut, performed excellently in his absence.

Swindon were the first to put points on the board with a try from flanker Nick Warren.

From a lineout, the entire pack surged through the defence and powered their way over the line with Warren getting the touchdown.

Norton responded quickly though, the full-back breaching the defence to get the touchdown and added a conversion.

But, Swindon again used their forward power to get a score that was virtually identical to the first, No 8 Mark Scarrott claiming the score this time.

Skipper Paul Wakefield then got in on the action, scoring from a perfectly-executed move.

Deep in the opposition half, Swindon secured their own line out ball and sent lock Andy Morley charging at the opposition midfield.

With the defence sucked in, Morley off-loaded to Wakefield, who handed off his opposite centre to get the touchdown.

The conversion attempt hit the bar leaving the score at 15-7 at the break.

Swindon continued to put pressure on the opposition line after the interval, but time and again the defence held out.

The inevitable score finally came after a well-placed kick was sent downfield.

Good chasing from the back three put pressure on the Chipping Norton defence and an attempted clearance bounced off an attacker and sat up nicely for full-back Robin Haxton who touched down.

Late on, the Chipping Norton forwards gathered some momentum, which resulted in their No 8 getting a try.

The conversion was successful, but Swindon were clear winners.