MATT Goode praised the character of his Banbury side as they remained in the play-off race with a bonus-point derby victory at Oxford Harlequins.

Bulls needed two late tries to beat their hosts 26-12 at Horspath Sports Ground.

Winger Dan Brady scored the crucial fourth try with a couple of minutes to go, helping Banbury remain within six points of second-placed Old Centralians, who occupy South West 1 East’s sole play-off spot.

The north Oxfordshire side had already wrapped up the victory, but head coach Goode, who was forced off with a foot injury early on, hailed his side’s determination to chase a bonus score.

He said: “Quins is never an easy place to go to, but these five points are crucial.

“I didn’t think we’d get it and it could’ve gone the other way.

“I was hopping and running about on one foot (when Brady scored the fourth try).

“We could have easily kicked off (after the third try) and settled for the win, but to get the bonus point shows the boys have lots of confidence.”

  • Pete Boulton and Dan Brady combine for Banbury's bonus-point try against Oxford Harlequins Video: Banbury RUFC

Quins are only a spot behind fifth-placed Banbury, but 19 points now separate the sides.

The hosts trailed 14-0 at the break, but two Toni Turetta tries reduced the arrears to just two points.

Quins dominated the majority of the second half and looked most likely to clinch victory.

But they were instead left empty-handed and, while frustrated, head coach Andy Boyle saw the positives.

He said: “We didn’t quite stick to our plan, which was to run a big, lumpy, quite old Banbury pack around.

“When we did it I thought we looked a million dollars and scored some nice tries.

“It’s just a shame – you’re not going to beat Banbury with half an hour of rugby and although the other 50 minutes wasn’t bad, we just didn’t quite apply ourselves well enough.

“But you live and learn and we’ve got to get over this habit of showing teams who are higher in the league than us that little bit more respect than they deserve.

“It was a bit of a missed opportunity.”