Cinderford’s woeful form away from home continued as they were well beaten by a fired-up Wharfedale team who claimed a much needed victory in their battle to move away from the National One relegation zone.
The Forest of Dean team can have few complaints about the manner of their defeat as they were under pressure in the scrum throughout, and conceded far too many penalties in the match, as they rarely threatened to overcome a determined challenge from their opponents.
Tom Barrett put Wharfedale 6-0 ahead with two penalties in the opening ten minutes, before Mark Davies replied with a kick at goal for the visitors. Barrett added a third penalty after 25 minutes play and soon afterwards the home side went further ahead when No 8 Aaron Myers powered over the line for an unconverted try to make it 14-3 at the interval.
Barrett was on target again with a fourth penalty early in the second-half and the Dalesmen made sure of the points when a promising Cinderford move broke down and they raced up field to score a well taken try through replacement winger Simon Horsfall. Rob Langley did score a try for the visitors with ten minutes remaining, but it was little more than a consolation for his team.
CINDERFORD: M.Wilcox; N.Codlin, J.Adams, D.Scourfield (K.Done, 70), L.Stapleton, M.Davies, D.Pointon, J.Smart , T.Bozzard (S.Bailey, 39), T.Heard (N.Selway 60), B.West, D.Critchley,(E.King 60) R.Langley, W.Foden, J.Garner (L.Allen 60) . Replacements: All used.