Goode praises players after Bulls see off leaders

Banbury Bulls' Ed Phillips kicks ahead and is pursued by Old Patesians' Tom Langton

Bulls beat Old Patesians 15-5 in Saturday’s Wadworth 6X South West One clash at the DCS Stadium.

Goode’s side produced a brilliant defensive display to beat the leaders, who had won their last 18 games.

And it was player-coach Goode who returned from injury with a couple of outstanding tries in each half to propel his side to a memorable victory. Despite that, Bulls slipped down to third place following Chippenham’s big victory over lowly Marlow.

Goode said: “We’ve started to become a really good side now and the performances and attitudes of the players are coming on leaps and bounds. We’re working on little things in training and they seem to be working.”

It was the second time that Bulls have ended an unbeaten record, having been the first team to beat Maidenhead last season. And Goode said the prospect of doing that to the leaders gave his side an added incentive on Saturday.

He added: “Everyone wants to be top of the table. We had that in mind but we also had that if we play our match right, if we’re intense in defence then we will win the game.

“Saturday’s performance shows why we’re right up there near the top of the table.

“We know we can score tries, we have lots of ways we can play. Since Christmas we’ve focused on our defence, on Saturday we kept Old Patesians to five points so that’s a hell of a win.”