National League One

Blackheath 21

A RAINBOW hung above the goalposts at the far end of the newly-named Beavis Memorial ground for much of the second half.

However, Cinderford struggled to get inside the Blackheath half, let alone anywhere near the pot of gold of a first National League win.

The Foresters were disappointing in the second period after an encouraging start to the match.

Their decision-making was below par and they kicked away ball without purpose.

Cinderford led 18-7 at the break and were good value for that lead, scoring two good tries with some enterprising work from the backs.

Rory Teague kicked a second minute penalty when Blackheath rushed over the top, but while the home side were still slapping each other on the backs, livewire Blackheath winger James Stephenson gathered a ball that no one else wanted to collect and darted through for a try that Armstrong converted.

Cinderford responded in the best possible way.

Good work from the forwards resulted in Codlin breaking for the line before popping a lovely scoring pass inside to the supporting Mike Wilcox. Teague missed a difficult conversion.

Midway through the half left-winger Lloyd Stapleton weaved in and out of tackles to score a superb solo effort that Teague converted.

A Teague penalty from in front of the posts put Cinderford in the driving seat as they turned around with the wind behind them.

What followed left the home faithful scratching their heads.

Blackheath upped their game to dominate the forwards battle, but the try that got them back into the game was extremely fortunate.

An Armstrong penalty struck the left upright and bounced kindly back to the visitors, who made the most of the opportunity to put Gavin O'Meara over for an unconverted effort.

Cinderford gave away two silly penalties on 50 and 58 minutes and Armstrong slotted both to make it 18-18.

Cinderford created next to nothing in the second half, but with time rapidly running out they enjoyed a good spell inside the Blackheath 22 – until the ball was fumbled forward and Armstrong hacked downfield.

Codlin raced back to cover the danger but was only able to carry the ball over his own line.

Blackheath, sensing blood, drove the 5m scrum forward to win a penalty and Armstrong coolly slotted it to win the game for his side with the last kick of the game.

Cinderford: Mike Wilcox, Nev Codlin, Simeon James (rep Dewi Scourfield 62), Rob Winchle, Lloyd Stapleton, Rory Teague, Ben Draper, Paul Price (rep Joe Smart 62), Tom Bozzard, Chris Bundy, Ben West, Ed King, Luke Allen (capt), Will Foden, George Evans (rep Dave McKee 51). Reps not used: Danny Trigg, Lee Fortey.