LAURENCE May held his nerve to land a last-minute conversion and earn Chinnor a thrilling 28-27 victory over Cinderford.

It proved a real battle at Kingsey Road and the hosts came away with five points when Will Harries crossed in the corner and fly half May expertly added the vital extras.

With Rosslyn Park losing at Plymouth Albion, Chinnor are now only four points off third place in National League 1.

The hosts led 14-0 inside ten minutes with hooker Nick Selway scoring both tries against his former club.

The first was a pick and go from five metres after Pete Laverick was stopped short, while the second came from a driving line-out, May converting both.

However, Cinderford hit back and scored three tries in the space of ten minutes when Chinnor had Josh Hodson in the sin-bin.

Harry Hone’s unconverted try had reduced the arrears, before Jack Hayes crossed twice in quick succession as the visitors led 19-14 at the break.

Chinnor’s response was to dominate the first 20 minutes of the second period and Josh Pieterse drove over, May converting.

But Cinderford refused to lie down and a George Barton penalty, as well as George Evans’s try saw them go 27-21 in front with ten minutes to go.

It looked like it was not going to be Chinnor’s day, but they piled on the pressure and took advantage of Evans’s sin-bin.

The hosts found space for Harries to go over in the corner, before May coolly slotted over the match-winning conversion.

Henley Hawks were knocked off the top of National League 2 South with a frustrating 33-20 defeat at Redruth.

The visitors made the perfect start in Cornwall, Ewan Fenley diving over for an unconverted try in the fourth minute.

Redruth hit back with a penalty, before crossing midway through the half to take an 8-5 lead.

Ben Bolster’s penalty levelled the scores after 27 minutes, but the hosts regained the lead shortly after the half-hour mark with a converted try.

Both sides were going for it and Tom Emery crashed over to make it 15-13, Bolster sending the kick agonisingly wide.

But another clinical move from the hosts saw them cross for a converted try, leaving them nine points ahead at the break.

The contest was tighter after the break and it took until the 62nd minute for the half’s first score.

Reuben Norville showed great speed to touch down, Bolster adding the extras to cut the deficit to 22-20.

But from then on it was all Redruth, as two penalties and an unconverted try sealed a bonus-point win.

The loss saw Tonbridge Juddians leapfrog Henley at the summit.