Moseley 23

Doncaster Knights 9

In the days before this crucial RFU Championship basement battle keen angler Kevin Maggs suffered a mishap when he slipped into the drink while returning a fish into Moseley Pool.

By the end of another steely demonstration of his team's mettle, it was his opposite number Clive Griffiths who found himself in deep water as Knight-fall drew 80 minutes closer for the Championship's bottom feeders.

Having played a game more than their relegation rivals Doncaster are two points adrift of Jersey and seven off Moseley, who after this gutsy display of defensive solidity have taken a massive step towards the level two lifeboats.

Nothing is guaranteed yet but with four home games still to play Maggs's men have clear water between themselves and the danger zone and - with three wins from four league matches in 2013, they have built up a decent head of steam.

Their modus operandi has been their increasingly impressive defence, which survived a thorough examination from a visiting team that recognised this game as the most likely source of a maiden away victory so far this season.

But thanks to Moseley's hyper-charged start, they were always on the back foot and as it turned out Mose's opening two minutes of coherence was the zenith of the match's attacking efforts.

It really was incongruously good. A massive shove at the first scrum scrum - an enduring feature of the home side's display, set the threequarters moving forward and once Greg King had arced around his marker and Simon Hunt and leg-pumped his way deep into the to 22, opportunity knocked.

Ben Pons, Ethan Waller and Adam Caves whittled away the fringe defence and Ryan Glynn nipped over from the base of a ruck just two feet from the line.

Glyn Hughes converted and at 7-0 inside 90 seconds it appeared as though hosts' lesser spotted offensive game would be given a rare outing in the even more rare Billesley sunshine.

How wrong we were. Large periods of the next 76 minutes were spent fighting tooth and nail to repel Doncaster who, in the first half in particular, for some reason seemed hell-bent punting all their hard-won penalties to touch.

At least two of those chances were well within kicker Jamie Lennard's repertoire but having turned down the three points and missed out on the five, the must have felt right mugs when Glyn Hughes showed them how to do it in the 27th and 34th minutes.

Hughes, who can rarely have kicked as much ball away as he did here, put Mose 13-0 up at the break and most of the way towards a fifth league win.

Just a few minutes into the second period it was obvious Doncaster had been told to take the points when they offered themselves and gradually Lennard chipped his team back into contention.

One further penalty from Hughes kept the Mose Nose in front but at 16-9 with 12 minutes to go the result was very much in doubt.

But to their credit the home pack, led by the outstanding young loosehead Waller, took control and closed the game down. Their scrum remained dominant and their maul squeezed the hope out of the frantic Knights who made the error of confusing width with progress.

As a result it only took one missed tackle on Buster Lawrence, fresh off the bench, for the utility forward to make sure of the spoils with his first Championship try, a gleeful 20m frolic down the undermanned short-side.

It was a score that might turn out to be significant as it denied Donny a loss bonus and left them not only in deep water, but in hot water too.

MOSELEY: Thomas; Hunt S, King, Carter, Robinson B (Hunt B 77); Hughes (Davies 77), Glynn; Waller, Caves (Wilkes 37), Evans (Herriott 64), Lockley, Powell (Lawrence 60), Mason (Dickinson 68), Pons (Robinson O 68), Pienaar.

DONCASTER: Braid; Keating, Sharp (Mama 56), Luke, Lewis; Lennard, Bedford (Hallam 71); McGovern (Brown 62), Buckley, Cronin, Challinor, Parsons (Hoy 59), Kettle, Hafu (Sowery 73), Planchant (Boyde 56). Replacement: Bergmanus

Referee: Darren Gamage (RFU)