Farnham slipped to a narrow 26-24 defeat at Maidenhead in Regional One South Central.

The visitors started well. An Eddie Buckton break got Farnham into the 22 as they looked to build a patient attack. Harry West controlled the tempo and slipped a nice ball to Ollie Kirkpatrick, who dived over for the opening try.

Maidenhead responded well and when a driving maul was stopped illegally, Jonny Vincent was given ten minutes in the bin. Maidenhead’s hooker received a yellow minutes later for a high tackle on Shawa Rai.

Another patient Farnham attack proved effective. Vincent was stopped just short of the line and with defenders dragged, Ollie Brown found space out wide to dot down for an unconverted try.

It took until the 30th minute for the hosts to get on the scoreboard when a break through the middle released their winger and although Toby Simmons tracked him down, he offloaded to the full back who scored in the corner.

Maidenhead’s flanker showed good power and pace to score their second try and put the hosts 14-12 ahead.

The hosts opened the scoring in the second half when their right winger dived in under the posts.

Farnham had to get back into the game and Simmons found some space to show his pace and get into the 22. A penalty was won which allowed Farnham to kick to the corner and the rolling maul was very effective, resulting in Kirkpatrick diving over for his second try of the game.

A trademark Oscar Henderson jackal won Farnham a penalty and allowed them to kick to the corner. Although the initial maul was stopped short, Harrison Horner was on hand to dive over for the bonus-point try to put Farnham 24-21 ahead.

Maidenhead’s centre scored the final try in the corner late on to give the hosts the win.