A crowd of around 1,800 people - Cinderford's biggest for many years - saw the home team pull off a deserved 21-6 win in the September sunshine.

The game was far from a thriller, but it was Cinderford who stuck to their gameplan best. They dominated possession and territory throughout and probably should have won by an even bigger margin.

The Lydney backs were starved of ball to such an extent that potential match-winners such as Andy Macrae were forced to go looking for scraps of the action.

Despite a good early break by Lydney's Charlie Vine it was the Cinderford pack who made the first real impression. Following a powerful rolling maul they won a penalty, which Danny Trigg slotted for a 3-0 lead. Trigg then made it 6-0 after Lydney conceded another penalty by hitting the ruck from the side.

Lydney fly-half James Correia handed Cinderford the initiative on a number of occasions by failing to find touch with his kicks.

Lydney's penalty count was also alarming, although a number of 50:50 calls did seem to go against them in the first-half.

Cinderford were handed an opportunity to increase their lead when their opponents failed to release the ball near the left touchline. Trigg went for touch rather than the posts.

The hosts failed to turn that attack into points, but still kept up the heat. Another driving maul took them back to the Lydney line and referee Liddell instantly awarded a penalty-try after the visitors infringed again. Trigg surprisingly missed the easy conversion, hitting the right upright from close-range.

Brett Scriven went to the sin-bin for again joining the ruck from the side as the first-half ended with Cinderford 11-0 up and in complete control.

Lydney started the second-half strongly, needing the first score to stay in the match. They got it, through an Adam Westall penalty.

Cinderford continued to dominate the game, keeping play inside the Lydney half, but a superb Correia touch-finder released the pressure and got the visitors up the other end of the field. This time, it was Cinderford's turn to fall foul of the referee - Scourfield earning a spell in the sin-bin and Westall slotting his second penalty.

That, however, was as good as it got for Lydney. Despite being a man down, Cinderford somehow worked an overlap for blindside flanker Chris McNeil to stroll through. Trigg's conversion was followed by a third penalty to leave the visitors with a mountain to climb.

Andy Deacon, on as a replacement, was sent to the sin-bin for punching, but this was Cinderford's day. Centre Toby Wilson was the leading back on show, but it was an afternoon for the forwards.

During the past couple of seasons, the Cinderford front-row has often creaked under pressure, but Brooks, Wallis and Kennedy looked a strong and mobile unit.

Skipper Mark Cornwell marshalled his men admirably and seemed to be in the right place at the right time, but energetic openside flanker Chris McNeil was probably the pick of them all.