WESTBURY recovered from a slow start on Saturday to record an impressive victory against their Reading opponents but the day was marred by a serious ankle injury to captain Rob Starr.

The match was delayed for 40 minutes while Starr received treatment from paramedics and he was then rushed to the Royal United Hospital, Bath.

Scans on the ankle revealed it had been badly broken and he was due to be operated on at the end of this week.

Having not played a Southern League fixture since before Christmas, Westbury were rusty in the opening 20 minutes.

But after falling 13-0 behind, the Westbury forwards began to get their game together and hauled themselves back into contention.

The Reading side took an early lead with a drop goal, a converted try and a penalty before Westbury woke from their slumbers.

After winning a lineout on the opposition's 22, the Westbury pack drove forward before releasing the ball to the backs for centre Stoff Robson to bulldoze his way over the line. Phil Stockley added the conversion.

From the restart Westbury pressurised the visitors and forced their way back up the field. There followed a series of penalty offences by the Redingensian players and Westbury opted to run them instead of taking the easy three points.

After the fifth offence, their decision to take a tap penalty paid off as captain Rob Starr was driven over to score. Stockley again converted to give them a 14-13 half-time lead.

After the break, Westbury again went on the attack and winger Matt Inseal was unlucky not to score when he just stepped on the touchline as he grounded the ball in the corner.

From the resulting five-metre lineout Westbury won the ball and once more set up a drive and keeping the ball tight, flanker Alec Balchin powered over to score with Stockley adding the conversion.

Stockley kicked a penalty ten minutes later as Westbury began to take complete control.

After 25 minutes, lock Matt Doughty crossed the line but was deemed to have been held up. A five-metre scrum was awarded and with superb scrummaging by props James Wild and Den Dredge and number eight Sam Nitz controlling the ball, the Westbury pack shunted the opposition over the try line.

As Nitz touched down, the vistor's front row collapsed resulting in Starr sustaining his serious ankle injury.

After the long stoppage Westbury had to dig deep and defend as Redingensians threw everything into attack.

Westbury's defence held firm as the score remained the same but the edge was taken off the win by the injury to Starr.