LEWIS Dennett missed a penalty with the last kick of the match as Bracknell’s National Three London & South East losing run stretched to six matches with a dramatic 10-9 defeat to Chichester on Saturday, writes Richard Ashton.

On a mudbath of a pitch at a wet and windy Lily Hill Park, the hosts showed a vast improvement on some of their recent displays, but were ultimately made to pay for four missed kicks by scrum-half Dennett.

And Bracknell head coach Rory Greenslade-Jones admitted: “It was really unfortunate to lose. The conditions were horrendous but we stuck to our game plan and we played really well.

“I thought we kicked on again (from recent performances) and unfortunately the ball just went wide of the posts and we didn’t win the game.

“We had two chances to win it and two kicks went wide but when you’re in a dogfight you get kicked when you’re down.”

He added: “We had most of the possession in the second half and stuck to our processes.

“We got out of our half and gave ourselves a chance to win the game, but then it’s in the hands of the kicker and Lewis had already kicked three. Unfortunately it didn’t come down on the right side.”

It was the visitors who took an early lead after Bracknell were penalised for illegally stopping a fourth-minute attack, fly-half Rich Adams making no mistake with a straight-forward penalty.

Greenslade-Jones’s men came firing back and controlled possession for most of the remainder of the first quarter, Dennett missing a couple of long-range efforts which both fell short.

He did manage to level matters with a 28th-minute kick from in front of the posts, with Chichester perhaps fortunate not to lose anybody to the sin-bin after repeatedly infringing at the breakdown.

Bracknell shot themselves in the foot from the restart, failing to clear their lines and giving the visitors a five-metre scrum.

It was from here that Chichester were awarded a penalty try, the referee ruling Bracknell’s scrum had collapsed when the home supporters begged to differ.

Adams knocked over the conversion to stretch the lead to seven points, although Dennett landed another penalty to make it 10-6 at the interval.

The second half continued to be a gritty affair in ever-worsening

conditions under foot.

Bracknell’s best opportunity followed an Ian Burch break, but after he was held up short of the try-line, Chichester lost captain Chris Johnson to the sin-bin for killing the ball.

Dennett landed his third penalty to cut the gap to a solitary point, but the majority of the final quarter was played around the half-way line.

In a dramatic conclusion, however, Bracknell did superbly to go through the phases and make about 35 metres before Chichester were penalised, leaving Dennett a shot from 30

metres out in front of the posts.

There was no fairytale ending for the home side, though, as his kick drifted to the right of the uprights leaving the visitors elated.

The defeat leaves Bracknell in 11th place – still well clear of the relegation zone – and a reflective Greenslade-Jones concluded: “The players are dejected. They threw the kitchen sink at it but unfortunately that’s sport.

“But, we got a bonus point and as long as we keep adding to our points tally our destiny will be in our own hands.”

Bracknell do not have a game this weekend, and travel to rock bottom Eton Manor – who are yet to win this season – on Saturday, March 5.

BRACKNELL Under 18s reached the quarter finals of the National Colts Competition with a 12-3 victory at home to

Buckingham Colts on Sunday.

The visitors took the lead midway through the first quarter after Bracknell were penalised at the breakdown, but the Lily Hill men hit back courtesy of a Tom Furmedge try which came following a powerful rolling maul.

The hosts’ physicality ensured they continued to have the better of the contest, but there was no further score until the closing stages of the match, when Ally Walton sealed the victory with a scorching run from 40 metres out which was converted by Jake Findley in front of a delighted Lily Hill Park crowd.