Chinnor's unbeaten home record which stretches back to February 2011 was finally broken by Barnstaple in a game which makes the chances of promotion harder than Chinnor would like.

Barnstaple came to Chinnor confident as postings on various forums noted in the lead up to the game. Chinnor, of course, were confident after their great run in the league this year.

The game started much as the Chinnor faithful have grown to expect this season. Chinnor applied pressure right from the kick off which resulted in good field position. But, on this occasion the Barum winger (Like Berry) gathered a loose ball and kicked down the field. The resultant chase was won by the Barnstaple No 8 Winston James who touched down. The conversion was missed. Chinnor 0 Barnstaple 5.

Very quickly after that lazy running by Joe Pickett resulted in his sin-binning. Normally, it is expected that the opposition would put on points during this time; however on this occasion the only points came from the boot of James Cathcart via a penalty. This did much to encourage the Chinnor faithful.

Another penalty from Cathcart after 22 minutes showed that Chinnor were beginning to take control. This was further enhanced when Pip Seymour took a cross field kick from Cathcart to score in the corner. Unfortunately, Cathcart missed the conversion. Chinnor 11 Barnstaple 5.

Straight from the kick off Barnstaple threatened through the excellent Gary Turner stealing the ball direct from the kick. A penalty was awarded to Barnstaple which was successful.

Just before half time an excellent backs move by Barum resulted in Will Topps creating the space required to pass to Toby Williamson for a try in the corner.

Half time Chinnor 11 Barnstaple 13.

The second half started encouragingly for Chinnor with Cathcart's successful penalty only 1 minute into the half to take the lead. But indiscipline from Chinnor resulted in another penalty to Barum and they took the lead again 14 to 16.

On 52 minutes, the referee decided to send the Barum hooker to the sin bin for persistent offside. This was the only time the referee seemed to realize that the offside rule exists for a reason!

During the sin bin session, Chinnor retook the lead with a try by Alan Cawston after a series of driving mauls. Chinnor 19 Barnstaple 16. This was the last time Chinnor were in the lead through the game.

The rest of the game was down to penalties and Chinnor becoming increasingly desperate to win the game. Passes didnt go to hand, many players seemed to have forgotten how to clean out at the rucks and in the end it all didnt go the way it was supposed to.

There is nothing that can be taken away from Barnstaple in this game; they came with a game plan, executed it very well and left Chinnor wanting in a number of areas.

What does this mean to Chinnor's hopes of promotion? Well, the games to Bournemouth and Redingensians now take on a whole different level of importance. It will be interesting to see how Chinnor bounce back from this defeat which when all said and done was going to happen one day.