Cents win hard fought encounter

Cents travelled to Oxford Harlequins on Saturday and came away with a hard fought victory against determined opposition.Harlequins have proved to be difficult opponents for Cents on their own pitch having won the last three home encounters between our two sides.
Playing on a great 4g playing surfaces Cents put in a good team performance in a match of few chances with both defences generally on top throughout the match.Both sides looked to move the ball from everywhere but despite the great commitment by both sides their defences were strong and limited the amount of chances.
The main difference was that Cents took their chances and Quins did not and overall Cents were the better team because of their defence plus sharper cutting edge in attack.Cents had made seven changes to the match day squad from last weeks narrow win away at Witney, however this had little effect on how the team played as the away side has good strength in depth.At the moment again it seems Cents cannot field a settled side for what ever reason.
Cents scored first after 14 mins when Lewis Locke crashed over from close range after a series of pick and goes near to the Quins line after a good passage of play spanning the length of the field.Wayne Mulhern converted for a score of 0-7 to Cents and it stayed this way until near the end of the half when Quins scored two unconverted tries following rolling mauls close to the visitors line.Score at half time 10-7 to the Quins
Cents started the second half strongly again when within two minutes of the start Joe PREECE scored a lovely team try spanning the length of the field.Wayne Mulhern converted following a difficult kick and again Cents had their noses in front at 10-14.Cents then had to defended strongly after Quins staged a fight back but they could not break the away sides defensive line.Cents looked good on the break and themselves put Quins under a lot of pressure.Cents then scored a penalty converted well by Wayne Mulhern again to lead 10-17 going into the final quarter.
Quins tried to get back into the match but Cents were strong defensively and they caused problems for the home side when they attacked themselves.Cents held on till the end of the match without to many problems and were more than pleased with the result.
Next week Cents play Wotton Bassett who are presently second in the table after a strong start to the season and this should prove an interesting encounter.