Birmingham Moseley 22 Blackheath 12.

Defeat for Blackheath in the end, but a closely-fought game from which the Club will take a lot of pride. Working with a set-piece vastly improved on the feeble effort against Loughborough a week earlier the visitors, making their first trip to Billesley Common for over a decade, remained in contention with the former Championship side for the entire 80 minutes, Moseley only pushing the points margin beyond that of a converted try in the final play.

‘The boys’ character and attitude in their approach to today’s game was first class,’ said Blackheath head coach Mike Friday.

‘It was a very tough, physical encounter for both teams, and Moseley are a balanced, organised, physical side who we pushed to the wire. Had we taken a couple of our moments, and been more fortuitous with a couple of decisions, the result could have gone our way, but it didn’t, and Moseley won a very tight, hotly contested match'.

And that good fortune came early for the hosts. After Leo Fielding and Mose fly-half James Williams had exchanged penalties, Markus Burcham saw his tenth minute try rightly cancelled out due to obstruction in midfield, only for the same offence to remain unnoticed moments later by the officials as the West Midlanders launched a move down the left flank that ended with wing Ed Sheldon crossing for a converted score.

Nevertheless, with Moseley conceding numerous penalties, including at the set-scrum where Aston Croall and Terry Read initially held the edge, Fielding added to two further strikes to bring the visitors back within a point at the interval.

The Club full-back converted his fourth goal on 53 minutes after Moseley handled on the floor, and Blackheath briefly held the lead, but as the game moved into the final quarter, the pressure from the hosts gradually intensified, and despite some solid defence and turned over possession the breaches had to come. On 61 minutes a free-kick saw Greg Smith find a gap, and although the scrum-half lost possession, open-side Jack Preece was on hand to mop up and touch-down, and at the very death number-eight Chris Brightwell burst away from a ruck to dive across, denying Blackheath a losing bonus point and keeping Moseley unbeaten at home and in pursuit of Hartpury College at the head of the National League One table.

Next Saturday Blackheath return to Well Hall for their final home game of 2016 with the visit of Macclesfield. Kick off is at 3.00 pm.

Birmingham Moseley.

Tries: Sheldon, Preece, Brightwell.

Conv: Williams 2.

Pens: Williams.

Blackheath.

Pens: Fielding 4.