Milton Keynes 31 Thatcham 26

Thatcham travelled to the Valley on the back of a win against the league leaders whilst MK had to come to terms with their big defeat against fellow strugglers Stow. The team looked very different to the one that travelled away to Stow and coach Paul Duffin will be agonising over what his team could achieve if he was able to get some consistency in his selection. Return of veterans Richard Hill and David Brown at 1 and 8 respectively added some much needed experience in the pack, Scott Apsinall at 15 after his sabatical following the end of his summer rugby league season with MK wolves. We also saw the return of the wanderer Gavin Whitehead after joining Mens Own for a year he decided he missed the club, and the talented all rounder started at 12.

MK were expecting a tough game and the visitors delivered in the first few minutes game . Off the back of a forward driving scrum number 8 Mark Smith was able to pick and go down the blind side to run in a simple score. Converted 0-7.

MK answered back almost immeadietly through Niall McKenzie. A solid kick chase from the MK backs put the visitors under pressure as they tried to run it from their own 22 and allowed McKenzie to intercept a pass between the 2 centres and run it in under the posts. Converted by Scott Aspinall 7-7

Thatcham had the majority of possession after the restart but couldn't make a breakthrough and it was MK who took the lead after 25 minutes with an Aspinall penalty. 10-7

The visitors seemed to realise they were in a game and played with the intensity that justified their league position. Impressive fly half Joe Leadley was pulling more of the strings and distributing well to get his centres in the game. A quick break from Leadley and a strong pass allowed Marty Butler to score in the corner, with the conversion off target the score was 10-12

MK responded with a sustained period of possession. Where Thatcham dominated the scrum it's fair to say the home side had the lions share of success in the line out. After going wide off a clean ball the backs were able to recycle on the right hand side just outside the 22. They worked the overlap by driving at the heart of the defence, with another quickly rucked ball a long pass from Whitehead found Lewis Barnett on the left wing to touch down for the hosts second try. Expertly converted by Aspinall 17-12.

The last points of the half went to the visitors, another strong scrum and carry from number Smith again sucked in the MK backs. Quick ball meant Leadley had the time and space to drift along the line and pass out wide for Liam Bowland to touch down in the corner. Conversion missed and half time score was MK 17-19 Thatcham

The half time talk from the coach was about trying to show more composure with the ball and to play rugby in right areas, if Thatcham had been the better side in the first the second half would go to the home side.

The first score came 8 minutes in after some good phase play from the forwards bossed by the evergreen Rob Lasbrey at scrum half. Inside the Thatcham 22, he fed Nathan Thomas at 10 who exploited a gap between his opposite number and his inside cover he fed David Brown 10 metres out for him to rumble over the final defenders for the try. Converted by Aspinall 24-19

Thatcham continued to battle into the game with their powerful centre combination trying to barrel over the MK defence but they defended astutely. They were gifted the bonus point on the hour when Thatcham attacking again from their half sent a pass straight to the hands of Whitehead. With 40 yards of open grass in front of him he ran it in under the posts for what will be his easiest try of the season. Converted 31-19

The final score came 10 minutes from the end with another powerful scrum Thatcham bundled it over with Jamie Evans taking credit for the score and Leadley converting to make it 31-26 and set up a nervy finale.

It's fair to say though in the last 10 minutes the home side never looked like conceding victory. A 60 yard clearance from young Brian Purcell with 5 to go and you could see the wind knock out of the sails of the visitors as the ball rolled into touch.

Only the second win of the season but this was a massive 5 point victory for Milton Keynes. It was enough to leap frog fellow strugglers Gosford and Bletchley and get them out of the drop zone. The watching support nursing sore heads from the previous nights annual gala dinner were treated to some cracking rugby from both sides.

Man of the Match : A quality performance from the returning Gavin Whitehead but man of he match goes to Nial McKenzie.He put in the kind of performance that goes unnoticed to the untrained eye, hitting tackles, running solid lines and good handling providing the kind of stability that allowed the rest of the talented back line to express themselves.