NEWTON Abbot's promotional aspirations were cruelly ended by a Reading side who can count themselves lucky to have passed the winning post on this occasion.
The All Whites played most of the rugby, having 60 per cent of the territory and possession, yet still ended up losing.
Reading only looked like scoring once but, to their credit, they took the chance, although the events leading up to it have caused anger among the Newton Abbot contingent.
The All Whites were 10-9 up at half-time, buoyed on by a noisy band of supporters who had made the trip in their droves.
The All Whites crucially missed the two conversions after tries by Matt Templeman and Neil Johns, and they also elected not to kick for posts from a penalty in the second half.
However, up to that point the visitors had pinned Reading down and were playing some scintillating rugby.
Bitterly disappointed coach Phil Burford was still trying to come to terms with the result on Sunday morning, rueing a missed opportunity.
Despite the disappointment, Burford paid tribute to his players, who literally gave their last drop of sweat trying to steal a win.
Time and time again the All Whites thundered against a solid Reading defence, trying to find a way through.
The hosts' try came after an All Whites' attack. A ruck had formed in the visitors' favour on the Reading 22-yard line. Scrum half Cane was looking at his options when a Reading centre came in from the side and took him out. Cane stuck out a boot as he was tackled, and this connected with the ball which rolled to the blind side and was pounced upon by the Reading winger, who legged it up the wing.
Cane, to his credit, gave chase and hunted him down, tackling him on the All Whites' 22-yard line. However, Reading, who had followed up and got in behind the defence, went over under the posts to score through prop Grierson. The try, converted by stand off Sweeney, made the score 16-10 and left the visitors chasing the game.
It is fair to say that there were contentious decisions made by both the referee and his two assistants which had a hand in Newton's demise.
Captain Simon Mabin was yellow-carded for allegedly stamping on a Reading player, although it seemed to be a genuine rucking.
The pain will linger for a while for the All Whites and sometimes it is easy to forget the great work this band of players have put in this year.
Undoubtedly a quality side, they will no doubt emerge from this campaign stronger and wiser and push for promotion next season, albeit in a tougher league from the looks of things, with Cullompton, Hartpury College and Chosen Hill all coming into South West Two West.
The club thank the loyal supporters who made the journey to support the All Whites.
Newton Abbot: N Hammond, S Mabin (capt), J Tichius, M Templeman, P Warren, B Rowntree, J Keenan, J Head, N Cane, A Birkett, N Johns, N Holt, A Lloyd, M Saxton, J Viskoper. Replacements: A Moore, P Dowrick, I Milton and R Beere.