Moseley 21 London Welsh 23

Six points up with seven minutes remaining, playing with the wind and slope in their favour and against opponents reduced to 14 men - Moseley were seemingly assured of a second season in National One.

That they didn't see the job through ruined not only the afternoon of the couple who announced their engagement over the public address system but that of the biggest crowd of the year who had answered the club's call to arms in magnificent fashion.

But even the most partisan of their number would have to admit that while Moseley should have won from such an ascendant position, London Welsh were the better team on the day.

The Exiles came on to the ball at greater pace, recycled it with more urgency and showed better execution at set pieces and that they needed a Dylan Pugh penalty two minutes into injury time to prove their supremacy was only down to some excellent defence from the hosts.

Not for the first time in this most arduous of campaigns the Red and Black hordes manned the barricades with admirable passion and, while picking out individuals for their work in that area would be something of an injustice to a splendid team effort, one has to applaud the last-ditch tackles made by James Rodwell, Richard Bignell and Ben Buxton and the gusto with which Adam Caves threw himself at his opponents.

But lost they did and next Saturday they must go to Waterloo, who were relegated last week, and equal or better whatever Otley do at home to Welsh, if they are to stay in the division.

And first they will have to pick themselves up after this most distressing of defeats. When Ollie Winter scored his first Moseley try in the 73rd minute and Ollie Thomas landed an unlikely conversion the home side looked to be home and dry.

But almost immediately they allowed Alex Cadwallader the space to glide across the face of their rear-guard and into the right-hand corner to make it 21-20.

Pugh missed the extras but with added time being played Winter crept round the blindside and felled scrum half Allen Chilten as he ran away from a ruck.

Referee Andrew Small, who has spent his season officiating in the London West region, declared the former Leicester Academy winger had started from an offside position. It was highly debatable and even more painful as Pugh stuck his boot in.

But not as much as the call the New Zealander made at the start of the second half when a Tommy Hayes score was scrubbed out for the apparent existence of a forward pass. If the penalty was questionable this judgement just looked plain wrong.

Andy Binns did superbly well to force a turnover on halfway, and centre partner Andy Reay released quickly for Hayes to swerve past his man, down the wing and over the line. Small's intervention was neither warranted nor welcome.

The whole occasion fell flat and Moseley must now show as much psychological resilience in midweek as they do when they guard their try-line at the weekend.

"Emotionally the game was quite draining so we have got to make sure we pitch the training right this week," admitted head coach Ian Smith.

"There is nothing to be despondent about because they played quite courageously, we have just got to regroup and make sure next week."

Lowly league status notwithstanding, a trip to Blundell sands is no sine-cure and Smith knows it: "There is no pressure on Waterloo, it's their last home game in this league, they have already beaten us down here and they are very good at certain disciplines - they'll have no fear and that's going to make it a very difficult game."

But, having afforded London Welsh enough possession with which to demonstrate their full range of attacking talents, Smith believes Saturday's victors have it in them to do Moseley a favour at Cross Green.

"If they get the amount of ball they did on Saturday they are a very, very good side," he said.

"They are a team you can manage to score tries against but if you give them as much possession as we did they are pretty formidable."

The Londoners demonstrated as much in the opening exchanges when, having fallen behind to Thomas' third-minute penalty, they scored two tries without response.

First a splendid counterattack ended with James Storey taking Aaron Hopkins' inside pass 25 metres to the line - Tom Marks converted - and then Chris Ritchie rounded off a catch and drive opportunity presented by Buxton's infringement.

Thomas claimed his second batch of three points at the midway point of the period and then Winter and Paul Knight freed Andy Binns to make the corner.

Thomas missed with the conversion but not a 34th-minute penalty goal, which handed the hosts a 14-12 interval lead.

Pugh, on as a replacement for Marks, swung the match the visitors' way on the hour with his first successful kick but Winter looked to have made the game safe when he gathered his full back's bouncing pass.

It wasn't to be and if Moseley lose next weekend the club's most recently affianced lovers will forever wonder what might have been.

MOSELEY: Thomas; Bressington, Binns, Reay, Winter; Hayes, Knight (Hunter, 69); Buxton (Coles, 60), Caves, Moran (Bayliss, 31), Arnold, Stott (Skelding, 60), Mason, Bignell (Evans, 69), Rodwell. Replacements: Macdonald, Bick.
LONDON WELSH: Taylor; Strong, Storey, Hopkins (Jewell, 69), Cawallader (Walbyoff, 73); Marks (Pugh, 55), Chilten; Williams, Ritchie (Campbell, 69), Ward (Masters, 73), Burke, Clarke (Quigley, 60), Robson, Anayi (Griffiths, 69), Cox.
Referee: A Small (RFU).