Beaconsfield missed out on the opportunity to repeat their earlier win in the season against Stratford-upon-Avon as they lost 13-11 to the Warwickshire outfit in their South West 1 East clash.

In November, they scored 45 points against Stratford's 19 when they first met. This time several chances were missed in the first half to build a score and this seemed to give the home side the impetus to come out in the second half with a renewed determination and belief that they could possibly win the game. For a side at the bottom of the table with few wins it was a quite a turnaround.

Early pressure from Beaconsfield led to a try for Dru Labri down the right wing and a 5-0 lead. The visitors play continued with pushes through the centre retaining possession. they then got a scrum on the 10 metre line but the ball went out of play five metres out. During this early play Stratford had only got into the Beaconsfield half a couple of times.

Beaconsfield then were awarded a penalty taking the score to 0-8 with Aled Lewis' kick.

Then out of the blue Stratford got possession on the right and had a simple run over under the posts for 7-8.

After a controlled lineout, Beaconsfield then ran the ball out through the backs down the left wing beating the defence but it seems when the ball goes to ground they don't get any decisions in their favour. This move ended the first half action.

The second half began with Beaconsfield again on the attack straight into the Stratford half, although I do expect the home side to put up more resistance this half. Stratford duly changed tactics using heavy forwards to try and force their way through the middle.

Beaconsfield looked more organised moving the ball to the wings when available, whereas the home side were playing heavy hits and slowing the play down. They tried to take a penalty from the half way line but this fell short of the posts

The game had changed at this point into an end to end game with the early pace of the match slowing down, considerably. Stratford were then given another penalty taking them ahead for the first time 10-8. This was quickly reversed with another Lewis penalty 30 metres out taking the score to 10-11.

In the final minutes of the game Stratford got their chance to win the game with a close final penalty which finished the match 13-11.

Beaconsfield are at home to Swindon on Saturday afternoon (2.30pm).