Reading went down to their fourth defeat in a row as Witney ran in nine tries six of them in the second half and three of which were in the last ten minutes.
Reading number 10, Matt Smart, had been red carded for a high tackle, with the team’s only consolation was a bonus point for scoring four tries themselves.
Witney showed Reading how to take advantage of the extra man scoring four of their tries whilst Reading were reduced to fourteen men.
Reading by contrast were unable to take real advantage of a period in which their opponents were temporarily reduced by yellow cards to 13 men when they could have clawed themselves back into the game.
Despite issues with their line out, Reading looked the more likely winners in the first half. They took the lead from a Harry Wilson try after a good run by Proctor-Searle which Smart converted. Witney then responded with two tries, one of which was converted to take a 12-7 lead.
But Reading quickly retook the lead when after a typically forceful run from Smith the ball was moved on to Gomez who showed the defence a clean pair of heels to score under the posts. Smart’s conversion gave Reading a 14-12 lead.
Gomez almost repeated the feat from the kick off and when he was stopped Borthwick took up the running but just failed to find Clarke with what could have been a scoring pass.
Reading held their lead until the stroke of half time when Dorliac’s tackle which stopped the Witney winger from crossing in the corner was adjudged high. He was yellow carded and a penalty try awarded to give Witney a 14-19 lead.
Soon after the break Witney pushed the Reading scrum off their own ball near the Reading line and took advantage of the resulting confusion to score under the posts to give themselves a twelve point lead.
Once they returned to full strength it was Reading’s turn to put pressure on the Witney line.
Two of Witney’s players were yellow carded in quick succession as they held out waves of Reading pressure but Reading were unable to make it count. Worse was to follow as Witney worked the ball into the Reading 22 and a misunderstanding in the Reading line out allowed Witney to score an easy try.
Reading did eventually make the extra men count when Cunningham forced his way over near the posts for Smart to convert and make the score 21-33.
At this point Reading could have come back into the game but the game slipped away from them. Firstly, the Witney winger caught a cross kick and although apparently tackled got up and scored in the corner.
Then Smart who had been directing matters from outside half was red carded for a high tackle. Witney immediately took advantage of the extra man to work an overlap and score again near the posts to give themselves a 21-45 lead.
Reading’s only hope at this point to get anything from the game was to score a fourth try themselves for a bonus point which they duly did when Borthwick’s incisive run out of defence found Daw who outstripped the defence to score in the corner.
Witney ran in two more tries in the final minutes taking advantage of the now disorganised Reading defence to make the final score 26-55.
Reading will be rueing the fact that they did not make enough of the pressure they put on Witney in the second half when for a while it seemed they had them on the ropes. In the end Witney were more clinical in taking advantage of their opportunities.
This game marked hooker Steve King’s 200th appearance a great achievement for a front row forward who has played for the club since he was a junior.
Reading play Salisbury at home next Saturday and will be hoping to put a stop to their recent poor run of results.
Tries: Wilson, Gomez, Cunningham, Daw
Conversions: Smart (3)
TEAM: Alex Dorliac (capt); Jordan Gomez, Stuart Borthwick, Alex Murray-Smith, Matt Daw; Matt Smart, Nathan Wheeler; Harry Wilson, Steve King, Alfie Fryer; Toby Sofidiya, Ryan Smith; Will Proctor-Searle, Brandon Taplin, Joe Clarkson.
Replacements: Rob Cunningham, Max Pepper, Jos Clarke
Report by Peter Chidgey
