WITNEY's late revival was not enough as they fell to a narrow 24-18 defeat at home to Grove at Hailey Road.
The west Oxfordshire side have now lost back-to-back games in South West 1 East.
Grove opened the scoring in the first minute when Connor Hull sped over and Sam Vaughan added the extras to make it 7-0.
A George Lewis penalty got Witney up and running, but Grove responded to lead 14-3, thanks to Harry Anderson’s try. Vaughan converted.
Lewis and Vaughan exchanged penalties as the visitors headed into the break with a 17-6 lead.
The hosts reduced the arrears on 51 minutes when Arron Lambourne crossed in the corner and Lewis converted to make it 17-13.
But Grove hit back through Joe Chilvers and Vaughan added the extras to open up an 11-point advantage.
Witney’s Jamie Burke and the visitors’ Joe Bellinger were sin-binned, but the hosts set up a nail-biting finish as Lambourne crossed for an unconverted try.
The home side pressed hard for a winning score, but Grove held on.
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