The Lily Hill Men were playing their first game of 2015, after their scheduled clash with Old Redcliffians was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch the week before.

And they produced a gritty display to seal victory against the hosts, which keeps alive their slim promotion chances.

Despite facing a stiff breeze in the first half, Bracknell controlled the game and went in at half-time with a useful eight-point lead.

It was a full 20 minutes before either side forced a scoring opportunity, as Bracknell’s Owain Davies slotted a penalty to celebrate his return from a serious injury sustained at Old Redcliffians way back in September.

The visitors continued to dominate possession and frustrated the home side into conceding too many penalties, and when Oxford found themselves down to 13 men through ill-discipline, Bracknell took advantage with a try by scrum half Barry Dwyer.

Although the conversion attempt was missed, Rory Greenslade-Jones’ men held the upper hand at the break.

After the restart, Bracknell continued to control the majority of play, and with the wind behind them, their second try arrived after just seven minutes courtesy of Stuart Mackay. When Owain Davies’ conversion sailed over from the touchline and made it 15-0 to the visitors, a bonus point win looked very much on the cards.

However, the quality of the game took a bit of a dive and errors were made all too frequently by both sides, and referee Sara Cox proved card-happy as she sent three Harlequins players to the sin-bin during the contest.

Bracknell’s skipper George Milligan left the field with a nasty head wound during the second period, and his side seemed to lose their impetus and the game seemed to lose its sense of direction.

Between the 50th and 75th minutes there was very little significant action – apart from Oxford taking their one and only scoring opportunity of the match – which brought the score to 15-3.

But the visitors finished with a flourish and centre Joe Price (pictured left) finished off a good team move to give his side a sniff of a bonus point, although that proved elusive as the full-time whistle was blown.

Bracknell face one of their toughest tests of the season this coming Saturday, when they welcome champions elect Redingensians Rams to Lily Hill Park for a mouth-watering Berkshire derby.

The visiting Rams have been in exceptional form this season, having won 15 of their 16 games, and scoring a collosal 606 points during that time. They possess an 11-point lead over second-placed Exmouth, and an 18-point advantage on Brixham, following a 64-7 demolition of rock bottom Chard last weekend.

Redingensians dominated the earlier encounter against fifth-placed Bracknell this season, winning 27-3 in a game played at Reading RFC due to ongoing work on the leaders’ clubhouse.

Bracknell felt agrieved that day as they had two players sin-binned and also conceded a penalty try, so they will be going all out for a victory which could reignite hopes of a top-two finish on Saturday (2.15pm).