BANBURY recovered from a five-point half-time deficit to beat Royal Wootton Bassett 24-10 at home and further boost their promotion hopes.

Ian Isham, Giles Saar, Nick Pratt and Jack Briggs crossed as Bulls won their game in hand on Wednesday night to close to within four points of South West 1 East leaders Old Patesians.

Banbury also now sit six points clear of third-place Chippenham in the league's sole play-off spot with two matches remaining.

The hosts opened the scoring when captain Isham forced his way over, Joe Mills converting.

But Bassett responded immediatley through Thomas Fieldsend's penalty.

The visitors were reduced to 14 men when Finlay Dewar was sin-binned.

But they went on to claim a 10-5 lead at the break when Christopher Rowland went over and Fieldsend added the extras.

Bulls were much improved in the second half and Saar crashed through, Mills converting, to make it 12-10.

Their lead soon became nine points when Pratt went over under the posts and Mills made no mistake in adding the extras.

Jone Waqanidrola and Joseph Pettit saw yellow for Bassett, with Bulls making the most of their two-man advantage as Briggs crossed for an unconverted try to secure the bonus point.