Witney put up a spirited performance, but it was not quite enough as they lost 19-12 to Oxford Harlequins in Sunday's Oxfordshire Cup final at Iffley Road.

Despite being two divisions below Quins, Witney had more than enough chances to win an intriguing final.

Crucially, though, they missed four kicks at goal and twice knocked on with the tryline at their mercy.

Quins looked to have seized control when scrum half and man-of-the-match Anthony Cope produced the game's one real moment of class to score a 49th-minute try.

Fly half Ben Cottenden's conversion made it 19-5, but they were unable to turn the screw as Witney kept up their impressive intensity.

It was the pre-match favourites who were hanging on at the end, with Witney dreaming of what might have been.

The west Oxfordshire men were clearly up for it from the start and twice went close before taking a seventh-minute lead.

A well-executed line-out move saw No 8 Owen Fowler charge up the blindside before being forced into touch.

Quins could not clear the danger and when Witney fly half Matt Watts's looped pass found flanker Will Worrall, he looked set to dive over.

Worrall proved Witney's star man over the 80 minutes, but this time the ball squirmed out of his grasp.

For all Witney's attacking play, they were handed their opening try on a plate when Quins' skipper Andy Noyce was caught out by Jez Tanner's suicidal goal-area pass.

Winger Henry Lamb was first to react and touch down, but centre Tom Harper missed the conversion with another nervy kick.

Fortunately for Quins, Cottenden kept his cool to slot a 13th-minute penalty.

Witney scrum half Gareth Campbell thought he had scored on 16 minutes, but play was brought back for a forward pass.

Although Quins crept ahead with Cottenden's second penalty on 27 minutes, the errors kept coming.

Noyce was lucky to escape a yellow card for swatting the ball into touch close to his own line, while Tanner knocked on as they tried to run clear.

Worrall produced an excellent tap tackle to stop Quins centre Andy Henley breaking through on 36 minutes.

Cottenden kicked a third penalty in stoppage time, but Watts missed his effort just afterwards.

Quins finally showed their ability after the break and dominated the next quarter.

Cottenden made it 12-5 with another penalty before Cope's solo effort appeared to have finished Witney.

The lively scrum half picked up the ball on the edge of Witney's 22, darted inside and easily beat the last defender to touch down.

Witney refused to lie down and Harper should have done better on 64 minutes when he ignored the overlapping Henry Lamb.

It was Lamb's twin brother James who gave their fans hope with Witney's second try four minutes later.

They almost scored with a rolling maul before Watts fed the centre, who easily cut through a static defence.

Watts finally landed a kick with the conversion and at 19-12 Witney had a real chance.

Quins, perhaps unwisely, kept trying to run the ball and were fortunate to see Watts's drop goal attempt sail just wide on 74 minutes.

Witney's best chance came just afterwards when full back Jonny Wheater broke into the 22.

The ball reached winger Carl Strutt at pace, but his fumble let Quins off the hook.

Replacement Martin Lyall and hooker Andy Merriman were both sin-binned in a desperate finale and Quins lock Alex Dyer suffered the same fate.

Witney had come up just short, but did their army of supporters proud.