High Wycombe gave their hopes of survival in the South West One East a timely boost as they beat Reading 27-25 on Saturday.

Reading’s improved recent form had seen Wycombe move to within three points of the relegation zone before kick-off.

Despite the closeness of the two sides, the hosts came out on top to narrowly secure their first win since mid-February.

With only three matches remaining in the season, Wycombe will have every confidence of staying clear of their relegation rivals for the remainder of the campaign.

A match against Oxford Harlequins, who they drew 32-32 against earlier in the season, awaits them in their next match.

In the Southern Counties North, Beaconsfield suffered a damaging 32-5 loss against Stow-on-the-Wold to continue their run of poor form.

Beaconsfield came into the game on a run of three defeats in their last four, but would have expected to have fared better against a Stow side with just one win in five.

Stow started brightly and raced to a 5-0 lead early on but were pegged back almost immediately as a well-placed kick allowed Beaconsfield to drive over and level the scores.

That was as good as it got for the visitors though as Stow took hold of proceedings and ran in 30 more points without response.

With no match this weekend, Beaconsfield will have to wait for the visit of Thatcham on Saturday, 16 April before getting the chance to atone for the mistakes made in the defeat.

It was a far better weekend for Marlow in the same division as they hammered Bletchley 61-0 to move level on points with their mid-table rivals.

The resounding win helped Marlow keep Stow at arm’s-length and they now enjoy a six point lead over their nearest rivals.

A trip to face third place Buckingham in 10 days’ time promises to be a bigger challenge for Marlow.

They will be looking to avenge the 29-5 defeat they suffered in December’s reverse fixture against a Buckingham side who have scored 110 points in their last three league matches.