Oxford RL fell to a shock defeat against University of Gloucestershire All Golds in the Kingstone Press Championship One on Sunday, going down 20-18 to the basement side at Iffley Road.

The visitors had lost all nine of their previous matches and were rooted to the foot of the table, but they were first on the scoreboard and grew in confidence.

Mark Barlow darted between two defenders to score under the posts and put the All Golds ahead after only three minutes. Matt Bradley added the extras to make it 6-0.

Fourth-placed Oxford got them-selves back into the game on 21 minutes when a weighted kick from John Clough caused panic in the All Golds defence. The ball was picked up by Shaun Robinson, who scored in the corner, with Jonny Leather adding the extras.

And the hosts took the lead soon after when Leather found a gap and brilliantly offloaded to Clough, who went in under the posts, Leather converting to give Oxford a 12-6 lead.

The resilient All Golds struck back when Patrick Smith’s quick tap sent Tyla Hepi charging over the line. Bradley kicked the conversion to level the scores once more.

However, it was Oxford who led at the break after Ian Burch pounced on Brett Robinson’s kick into the corner to touch down, with Leather converting again to make it 18-12 just before half-time.

After the interval, the All Golds reduced the deficit on 62 minutes. A break by James Greene saw him beat two defenders in a 20-metre run, before releasing Phil Cowburn to touch down in the corner. Bradley missed the conversion, leaving the game finely poised at 18-16.

JJ Baird then had two excellent chances to extend Oxford’s lead. First, he broke through two tackles and ran the length of the field before finally being caught on the All Golds’ ten-metre line.

And Baird thought he had scored shortly after when he touched down under the posts, only for the effort to be ruled out for a forward pass from Martin Roden in the build-up.

Those missed chances would come back to haunt Oxford as the All Golds struck the fatal blow in the dying minutes, Richard Jones going over in to complete a quick passing move and seal Oxford’s shock defeat.