CHINNOR captain Liam Gilbert admitted they only had themselves to blame after their last-minute defeat to Shelford.

The Thame-based side surrendered an 11-point lead in the closing stages to lose 21-20, but Gilbert felt it could have been avoided.

“We gave away silly penalties and got ourselves in a stupid position at the end,” said Gilbert.

“All we had to do was keep them away from our line and we would have been OK.

“If we played the way we had done in the first half, we could have built on our lead.

“We were coming onto the ball well and our defence was good.

“But we rested on our laurels too much.

“Our attitude changed too much at half time and that’s what happened – we were punished.”

Shelford’s victory was a mirror image of Chinnor’s success in the away fixture last September where Tristan Corpe’s last-minute try sealed the spoils for the Oxfordshire side.

Gilbert said: “They said that’s what it feels like, but we shouldn’t have been in that position.

“We started kicking the ball back to them.

“All we had to do was keep it ourselves.”