MARLBOROUGH returned from a Windsor mudbath with a 19-9 victory in South West One East – their fourth on the trot.

Windsor’s kicking game gave them the better of the early exchanges as the hosts booted a penalty to open the scoring.

Marlborough slowly clawed their way back, but both teams found the conditions testing.

However, they would draw level 25 minutes in as Daniel Jones kicked a superb penalty into the wind.

Just before half-time, hooker Kapeteni Filipe made a fantastic break supported by Jones and Viliame Navesu. Filipe offloaded to Jones, who then threw a dummy to Navesu to step inside the Windsor defender and score in the corner. With the conversion missed, the half ended 8-3 in Marlborough’s favour.

Marlborough were pleased with their half-time lead, having played into the wind, but Windsor started the second half on the front foot, kicking a penalty on 45 minutes.

The visitors started to realise this was going to be a real struggle as both the weather and ground conditions were atrocious with all four seasons on display during the match.

On the hour Windsor kicked another penalty to give them a 9-8 lead. Marlborough didn’t panic and after a powerful run by Viliame Waqanidrola followed by three dominant phases from the forwards, Mac Lewis scored an unconverted try to retake the lead 13-9.

Windsor had no intention of laying down and threw everything they had in their arsenal at the visitors, but Marlborough saw out the last ten minutes with two penalty conversions from Jones.

Elsewhere in the division, Royal Wootton Bassett left Banbury with a 15-10 win to keep the pressure on leaders Old Centralians, who downed Chippenham 45-7 at Allington.

In Banbury, Bassett started on the front foot despite meeting a gale-force wind and had only a Troy Cusack penalty to show for their first-half efforts, as Banbury led 7-3 at the interval.

The second period began in the same vein before Bassett notched their first try; Cusack held up but producing a superb offload for full-back Dan Hale to race over.

The hosts led again thanks to another penalty, albeit having missed a previous attempt.

But it was the Wiltshire side that left victors. An attacking lineout saw Joshua McCafferty pounce on a loose ball and though he was held up, second row Chris Patterson forced his way over the whitewash. Cusack added the extras.

Meanwhile, Trowbridge triumphed 13-10 at home to Sherborne to keep ahead of second-bottom Wimborne.