Painswick close to giantkilling (From Stroud News and Journal)

Painswick close to giantkilling

Cheltenham Combination

Senior Cup semi-final

Painswick 24 Cheltenham 25

PAINSWICK were minutes away from pulling off one of the biggest shocks in the history of the Cheltenham Combination Senior Cup.

With only three minutes remaining a full-strength Cheltenham side were awarded a penalty in front of the posts, they duly kicked it to put themselves one point in front and then proceeded to keep Painswick at bay for the final couple of minutes.

Earlier, Cheltenham, who play three leagues above Painswick, started at a blistering pace and scored two unconverted tries in the first ten minutes.

At this stage it looked as though Painswick were staring at a big loss. However, they regrouped and started to get a foothold in the game, and were rewarded when good interplay between forwards and backs saw winger Phil Higgins race over in the corner, Matt Coombs adding an excellent conversion.

Minutes later more pressure from Painswick resulted in a penalty in the Cheltenham 22, they decided to take a quick one and centre Jake Saunders crashed over to put Painswick in the lead.

Cheltenham responded but excellent Painswick defence kept them out and they eventually broke out of defence for centre Aussie Smith to race upfield and score Painswick's third try, the conversion was missed.

Cheltenham started the second half as they did the first, and it was no surprise when their number eight crashed over under the posts, the conversion was added to level the scores.

Once again Painswick dug deep and were rewarded when second-row Russell Thornton dummied his way over under the posts, Coombs added the extra points.

Cheltenham hit back when they scored an unconverted try from a catch and drive at a lineout to leave them trailing by two points.With five minutes remaining Painswick had the opportunity to increase their lead but the attempted penalty kick drifted wide.

Cheltenham worked their way upfield and were eventually awarded a penalty, which their kicker duly slotted over to seal the match and put them in the final.