KEITH Tomes has challenged Swanage & Wareham to end the season off the bottom of South West One East after the Bestwall side recorded their first away win and shutout of the campaign.

Swans banked a 17-0 triumph at fellow strugglers Grove on Saturday with Rob Elford, Gary Smith and Nick Audley all touching down in the victory in Oxfordshire.

Tomes’s troops are now just six points behind second-bottom Reading with six games to go and the head coach is keen to finish a difficult season in strong fashion.

The coach told the Daily Echo: “Although relegation looks inevitable, we don’t want to finish bottom and we’ll keep going and see what happens.

“The relegated teams aren’t finalised until after the season has ended and that’s the frustrating thing for us. We’re 80 per cent sure it will be three going down but you are never quite sure.

“We are only six points behind Reading now and we have to play them away in a few games’ time.”

Tomes added: “It was an encouraging performance on Saturday.

“We only took 17 players and they all played exceptionally well. The work rate was good and our team spirit shone through.

“Trev Ford and Kirk Jones did really well in the forwards, Matt Roberts continued as he has done all season and Darren Penney made a difference in the back row.”

Swans took the lead after less than 15 minutes when from a line-out on the five-metre line, a catch-and-drive move allowed hooker Rob Elford to crash over.

The lead was doubled in the 28th minute when Swans reached the five-metre line and after a couple of phases, second-row Smith forced his way over.

Swans completed the scoring within five minutes of the restart when prop Audley crossed close to the posts and Phil Graves added the extras.

Swans: Smith, Barton (Adkins, 65), Roberts, Graves, Parry, Brett, Dennett, Sheldrake, Elford, Audley, Andrews, Smith, Penney, Ford (Harwood, 58), Jones.