Lion-hearted Longlevens secured one of the outstanding results of the season as they inflicted a first defeat on table-topping Trowbridge on Saturday.

They won 31-28 against the previously all-conquering Wiltshire side, who had won all 15 of their previous Regional 2 Severn games.

The game was played at Oxstalls, and Longlevens captain Josh Stratton said: “It has to be our best performance of the season.”

What made it just that bit more impressive was that Longlevens went into the game having won only one of their previous five matches.

They’d also lost 52-0 at Trowbridge back in October and Stratton, a prop, continued: “Saturday’s performance was one built on frustration.

“We’ve been frustrated by the past few weeks, we’re a better side than we’ve shown recently.

“Trowbridge are the best team in the league but we were frustrated when they nilled us earlier in the season.”

That was never going to happen this time around as tries by Brad Wilkins, Matt Fatica, Matt Smith and James Butler helped them clinch a famous victory.

Wilkins also slotted four conversions and a penalty, with the penalty proving particularly significant.

“It brought us back to within 11 points of them at half-time,” said director of rugby Andy Deacon. “That gave us a bit of belief.

“We had a strong side out but they’re a good team. The win is a real shot in the arm, it showed we can do it.

“It was to and fro, but as we got nearer the end we had more belief that we could do it. I always knew that the guys have got it in them to do something like that.”

Before the game Deacon had told The Local Answer that he wanted his men to give Trowbridge “a typical nice Gloucester welcome” and they certainly did that.

“Our defence was outstanding, we played with great intensity,” added Stratton, who is hoping for more of the same when Longlevens head to second-placed Chippenham on Saturday.

Chippenham trail Trowbridge by seven points in the table, with both clubs having six games to play. Saturday’s win lifted Longlevens up to seventh in the 12-team division.