CHIPPENHAM gave themselves a potentially vital boost in their battle to beat the South West One East drop with a 20-15 victory at fourth-placed Old Centralians on Saturday.

A slow start to the first half from both sides resulted in a stalemate, but late on, Tom Fogerty picked up the momentum with an unexpected tap and go, making valuable ground and putting the Centralians onto the back foot.

A calculated miss-pass out to youngster Sean Johnson saw him over for the try that gave the visitors, who fielded four U18 eligible players, a half-time lead.

After the break, the backs executed a well-timed move, putting Brad Doggett through the line virtually untouched to score the second try, Dom Riccio converting.

Riccio booted a penalty to increase the advantage before Lewis Surry started a counter-attack offloading to Doggett and on to Matt Dickens, who outran the defence and finished.

The home side applied the pressure in the final 20 minutes and were rewarded with two tries and a conversion.

But after four penalties and a total of 16 phases in their own 22, Chippenham managed to stop the home side from scoring a further try, Cents adding a penalty to earn a losing bonus point.