SEVENOAKS' match against Warlingham was remarkable not for the fact that it was the home side's 11th straight game without a win, nor for the long-awaited return of club captain Tim Golds from injury.

Rather the 25-10 loss will be remembered because, for the first time this season, Oaks played 80 minutes of quality rugby. Sure, there have been glimpses of what this Oaks side can achieve, but they have come in fits and starts. Saturday saw Sevenoaks dominate territory and possession and, if anything, they should feel aggrieved not to have walked away from Knole Paddock with a win under their belt.

"It was a good game of rugby and to be fair the result could have gone either way," said Sevenoaks captain Tim Golds. "We played to our game plan a lot better and looked after the ball well. We looked dangerous with the ball in hand and the next step is to convert pressure into points.

"We all enjoyed the game, and I think that the crowd did too, which shows that we are playing some good rugby."

The match was played at a high tempo by two teams who enjoy running the ball. Oaks were looking to kickstart their season having last tasted victory on October 4 against Purley John Fisher. Warlingham, meanwhile, had only won one of their last four games having been the league's early pace setters.

But for the first quarter of the match it was all Sevenoaks. With Warlingham unable even to venture out of their own half, Oaks attacked the opposition with gusto. Notably, winger Jon Pollock made two scintillating breaks down the left, the first of which saw the number 11 hauled into touch fractionally short of the line and the second led to an offload which was knocked on.

Open side flanker Dan Scott was also hitting the gain line and the opposition hard, but for all their huffing and puffing, Oaks could not get on the score sheet.

Inside centre Wessel Booysen missed two shots at the posts and after 20 minutes of being under the cosh, the visitors had scored a counter attacking try completely against the run of play to turn the game on its head.

A speculative punt from the 22 was fumbled by full back Thierry Walker and the Warlingham players did well to follow up the kick, fly hack it forward and gather the ball to score under the posts, allowing their kicker an easy conversion. 7-0.

Walker left the pitch injured almost immediately afterwards, which meant Golds, who for so long has been forced onto the sidelines with an injury of his own, made his 2008/09 debut.

And the club captain made an instant impact. His first touch of the game was a beautifully timed pass for Robbie Unwin to rush onto, burst through the defence and score near the uprights.

Booysen again missed the kick to leave Oaks trailling 7-5 at half-time in what was a wonderful 40 minutes of end-to-end rugby.

Soon after the break, fly-half James Leverington was yellow carded for not rolling away under the posts and Warlingham converted the resulting penalty to extend their lead to five points.

Entering the final quarter and the game was still finely balanced. But more indiscipline cost Oaks dear as Kenny Pihema saw yellow and Warlingham kicked a further penalty to make the score 13-5.

Ten minutes from time and the Warlingham fly-half produced a moment of individual brilliance, killing the match as a contest. After gliding through almost the whole Sevenoaks team, the white and blue's number 10 dinked a delicate chip over Unwin's head before arrogantly scooping up the ball one-handed to score another converted try.

Sevenoaks responded instantly, however, working the ball left and right before shipping it out to James Garcia to be rewarded for his hard work all afternoon with an unconverted try in the corner.

Warlingham found time for one more try to make the final score an unflattering 25-10.