Phoenix arrived at Didcot knowing they were going to be in for a tough afternoon, Didcot who are flying high in the league lying in second place unbeaten.

Phoenix started the game with some good driving play through the forwards with many good carries from second rowers R Golder and M Andrews, prop Luca Piemontesi , back row A Brench and Steven Hyland.

The driving play soon had Didcot on the back foot and conceding penalty after penalty and it was not long before the referee was forced to sin bin the Didcot No 8 for constantly being on the wrong side.

With the penalty within kicking range up stepped H Bampton to put Phoenix into a 3 point lead.

It was not long before Phoenix were again on the attack and clever break from inside centre A Mason he drew the full Back and fed right winger Joe Atherton to cross for the opening try and a 8 point lead .

Phoenix were being ruthless in there driving play making good ground at every opportunity and again it was not long before Phoenix had scored their second try with some good inter play between forwards and backs which found the J Dean who was playing in a unaccustomed position of fly half he twisted and turned and forced his way over to give Phoenix a commanding lead of 0-15.

In the second half Didcot brought on their replacements and started to make good headway with some strong running from there big centres this started to put Phoenix on the back foot.

A Ruck on the Phoenix 5 yard saw the Didcot forwards pick and drive and cross for their opening try and put them back into the game. (7-15)

What was to be a game of two halves seeing Didcot again put some immense pressure on Phoenix and again it was not long before they crossed for their second try and putting Phoenix in front by just 1 points (14-15)

A further try by Didcot allowed them to take the lead for the first time in the game (19-15)

Phoenix were now beginning to tire and allowed Didcot to start to dominate, but it was Phoenix who were next on the score board with Didcot again killing the ball and again H Bampton Kicked the penalty to again put Phoenix just one point behind (19-18).

It was Didcot who had the final say in the game when they were awarded a penalty and the kick found its way into touch 5 metres form the try line. With the throw in not going straight but the referee allowing the game to carry on saw Didcot cross for the winning try (24-18).

A very pleasing performance against a very Strong Didcot team, who never gave up and showed some good play in the second half, but maybe on another day and the decisions going in favour of Phoenix this, could have been a major upset.