Maidenhead coach points to the 'positives' after agonising defeat to Brighton

Maidenhead head coach David Mobbs-Smith must have felt his side would finally get the rub of the green in the latter stages of Saturday's thrilling clash with Brighton.

Leading by 13 points (35-22) with a couple of minutes left of the 80, it seemed a certainty that Maidenhead would finally finish on the right side of an even, high-scoring clash. But two last-gasp tries from the visitors, and some nerveless kicking from Brighton captain Max Morris ensured the visitors escaped Braywick Park with a bonus-point win that really should have been Maidenhead's for the taking.

Mobbs-Smith admitted the result was 'a difficult one to take'. He probably wanted to scream and shout and tear out his hair, but he managed to keep a lid on his emotions, and the two losing bonus points Maidenhead did pick up mean that their encouraging performance wasn’t a complete write off.

Once again Maids produced some electric attacking rugby as Alex Turton, Drew Prince (two), and Dan Collins put them on course for only their third win of the season. However, just when it seemed the Maidenhead faithful would head off into the cold night having been warmed by a morale-boosting victory, they had it stolen from them in the most dramatic circumstances possible. Two tries in the space of a couple of minutes gave Morris the chance to win the game with the last kick of the game and he deserves great credit for slotting a difficult kick from the touchline to seal a 36-35 win. It's true that Maidenhead threw away victory with some sloppy defensive play late on, but Brighton showed tremendous character to fight back in the closing stages, having been second best to Maids for most of the game.

Mobbs-Smith said: “It's hard to take when we had so many players out. We had seven first team players missing this afternoon and we still should have won. We had two chances to win this. We were leading in the first half and had a big lead. And we were leading in the second half, with a big lead, and we lost both.

“With two minutes to go we had a 12-point lead. He (Max Morris) held his nerve under pressure at the end. It was the correct side to kick it from because he is a right-footed kicker. I wish they'd scored in the other corner but that's the way it goes sometimes.

“We needed those five points today. We got two, that helps, and it also shows that our team is in the right space to deal with and play against teams in the bottom half of the table.”

This was the fourth time this season Maids have managed to score more than 30 points only to lose the game. Had the fine margins gone for them in those games they'd be sitting much higher in the table. Instead, they're second from bottom, above only Bournemouth and just behind Marlborough and Horsham in their own mini league. Two of those four sides look set for relegation this season.

“In four games this season we've lost out to just one score,” he said. “We can score, but we're just having some difficulty closing out those games when we've been leading. We were 20-7 up and they got themselves back into the game. We were also 35-22 up and they came back again.

“There's lots to take from this game. The players are going to be in the changing room, and they'll be absolutely devastated, because they know they should have won that. We've got some team building and bonding to do before our next game, and that is Camberley away, which is a completely different kettle of fish. Then we have Hammersmith here before Christmas which is very similar to this game. Camberley we've beaten already, and Hammersmith we'll hope to win. But if we can just keep taking something from these matches, it will help us to climb the league.”