Witney captain Jez Hicks felt his players could hold their heads high after a battling defeat to higher league opponents.

Hicks's side will now need to pick themselves up for their final two league matches as they still have an outside chance of promotion via play-off.

He said: "The effort from all the boys was excellent. I'm really proud of them.

"I did think it was going to be a lot closer than that.

"I thought we had a good opportunity to go in with the lead at half-time, but we didn't take it.

"They came out strong as we found last year, while we had our best spell at the beginning of the second half.

"We kept hold of the ball well at that stage.

"They came on strong and we spent a good 25 minutes just defending and taking pressure.

"In they end they showed the difference in class between our leagues.

"I think our set pieces went well. We were strong in the scrum and the lineout.

Oxford Harlequins' director of rugby Matt Maudsley slated his players after last year's 19-12 victory over Witney, but on Saturday stressed: "I'm much happier than last year.

"Witney are a really good team. I'm really surprised that they have not got promotion already.

"They were very physical and committed and quicker to the break downs.

"This sort of match is a real leveller because they were really, really up for it.

"In the second half, though, they struggled to get out of their 22.

"We then showed our skills to finish them off."