MARTIN Peaple remained upbeat after witnessing his depleted Swindon College Old Boys side lose 18-0 at Drifters.

Manager Peaple was without 10 of his first choice line-up for the Bucks/Bucks & Oxon Premier contest on Saturday, and was not able to name a single replacement.

But the Old Boys chief believes the patchwork assembly of second team players and youngsters performed admirably in their teammates’ absence, posing Drifters a serious threat over the course of the 80 minutes.

“Everyone has come in and played well,” he said.

“I am a little disappointed and it was extremely frustrating to have to make so many changes.

“I feel with a first choice team out there we would have been able to get a good win.

“But the lads who have come into the side have done their jobs well. Josh Haynes, who’s only 17, was great at nine and 10.

“At half time it looked like we may have been able to pinch it.”

Old Boys trailed by just a solitary penalty at the break, and were only 6-0 behind after an hour, but a disputed try killed off their last remaining challenge.

“Their try was the deciding factor and after that there was no way back, and there were a few dubious decisions in the build-up to it,” said Peaple.

“It was just the lack of experience which told, especially seeing as we had to put the team together in the last 48 hours before the match.”

Old Boys have dropped to fifth in the league table after the result and, with a two-point deduction also imminent, there could be cause for concern that after such an emphatic start to the season, the Old Boys’ success is fading away.

But Peaple is adamant that that is not the case. “It’s very tight in the league at the moment,” he said.

“If we can hold on for the four or five games we’ve got before Christmas and stay up and around there, then we will get those with injuries back.

“If we can get to that position then we should be up there at the end of the season pushing for the top places.”

Drifters moved two points ahead of Old Boys as a result of their victory at the weekend, and are now level on points with league leaders Alchester and second-placed Broadmoor Staff.

MINETY’S struggles continued in Southern Counties South as they were defeated 8-0 in heavy rain and driving winds at Corsham.

The home side had the wind behind them in the first half and went ahead when their number eight picked up from the back of a five metre scrum. He darted right, threw a dummy and slipped through a tackle before crawling over the line for a try.

Corsham later added a penalty and the sides turned round with the score at 8-0 in Corsham’s favour.

Minety were camped on Corsham’s 22 for most of the second half but could not get across the line.

The best chance fell to flanker Charlie Gawthropp, who came within a metre of scoring.

Having watched from the sidelines, Minety’s injured club captain Craig Smith was impressed by the efforts of his teammates.

“The scrum was solid and Charlie Gawthropp and Oli Bown both jumped well for us in the lineout,” he said.

“The tackling was tremendous and if two or three critical passes had gone to hand, we could have won the game.”

Minety’s next game is on Saturday, November 28 when they host Oldfield Old Boys.

The club’s 2nd team also faced unfavourable conditions against Bath Saracens, but overcame them to emerge 22-0 winners.

Playing into the wind and up the slope at the Nigel Bishop Memorial Ground, Minety faced a tough task in the first half.

But solid defence kept the visitors out, and fly half James Tweedale touched down to put Minety 5-0 up at the break.

Minety dominated the second half territorially and inside centre Pete Thornton’s lightning angled run helped him score his team’s second, with full back Andy Edwards converting.

Edwards added a penalty goal before wing Ben Scott wriggled past two tackles to land Minety’s third try. Edwards slotted home the conversion.