GREATER precision and attacking flair saw Wallingford defeat Gosford All Blacks 26-10 in an entertaining Oxfordshire Shield final at Iffley Road.

Their excellent half-back pairing of Derek Viljoen and skipper Olli Henderson created plenty of space to exploit, but crucially they looked fitter and hungrier up front.

Flanker Peter Holton thoroughly deserved his two tries after some great support play, while Wallingford's first-half scores both owed a lot to forward pressure.

Gosford looked good in patches and definitely started the better, but failed to make best use of their possession.

And even when they managed to claw it back to 19-10 in the second half, they shot themselves in the foot with too many basic errors.

Gosford's Sutton brothers, Tim and Charlie, were prominent early on as was No 8 Paul Nye.

A move involving all three saw winger Tommy Newell just held up on 11 minutes, but two minutes later skipper Kris Wadley peeled off a maul to dive over.

Wallingford kept calm and eased themselves back into the match after 20 minutes.

Flanker Matt Chapman broke into Gosford's 22 and the ball was spun across to centre Neil Bird.

He ignored the overlap, but managed to squeeze across the line next to the posts, and Henderson converted.

Gosford continued to have more of the play and Wallingford full back Henry Venners needed to be alert to stop Newell pouncing on a bouncing ball after 28 minutes.

Venners twice almost created tries at the other end.

Firstly he narrowly failed in his off-load to winger Glenn Dearlove and minutes later his attempted drop goal nearly proved an effective grubber kick.

The breakthrough came in stoppage time when Henderson popped a pass to winger Tom Williams, who broke through some weak tackling and dived over.

Henderson slotted the conversion and kept his side on the attack after the break.

Williams was injured in a tackle as Wallingford went close on 43 minutes, but Gosford could not stop Holton powering through from the edge of the 22 on 52 minutes.

Gosford edged back into contention two minutes later.

Scrum half Tim Sutton jinked down the blindside and released Newell with a grubber kick that the winger finished in style.

Charlie Sutton wasted a great opportunity for an attacking line-out when he kicked a penalty dead from just outside the 22.

Some good handling looked to have created space for Newell to exploit on the left wing, but Viljoen was alert to the danger and produced an excellent cover tackle.

Wallingford's superior fitness told in the final ten minutes as gaps started to appear in Gosford's defence.

Viljoen found one of these in stoppage time to put Holton in for his second try and Henderson's conversion gave Wallingford a scoreline that reflected their dominance.

Wallingford: Venners, Williams (Don Jenkins 46), Collett, Bird (Mike Chapman 80), Dearlove, Henderson (capt), Viljoen, Blewett, Mount, Young, Blazko (Bailey 80), Dorian Jenkins (Payne 80), Holton (White 80), Matt Chapman, Thorns.

Gosford All Blacks: Glithero (H Sutton 71), Newell, Webb, Borthwick, Tracy, C Sutton, T Sutton, Machin (Nicholls blood 10-17), Wadley (capt), Donnelly, Rhymes, Benito, Beesley, Hughes, Nye.

Man-of-the-match: Holton.

Referee: G Williams (Oxfordshire).