READING Raiders Rugby League Club stormed to their first ever win on Saturday, but narrowly missed out on winning the club’s first silverware.

On a day of firsts, with the club playing a first home game at Berkshire County Sports Club in their maiden season, the Raiders came away with a 52-20 victory over Swindon St George A with more than half of the squad making their rugby league debuts.

The comprehensive victory, however, wasn’t enough for Reading to win The Kennet Cup, with Swindon’s 56-20 first-leg lead being just enough for the Wiltshire side to claim the silverware over the two legs.

With the visitors hit by late withdrawals to leave them down to just 13 players, the Raiders, and their squad of 23, soon took the lead with chairman Andrew Belt going over on the left wing for the club’s first ever try in the town.

Swindon hit back and punished Reading’s inexperience, with the hosts conceding many needless penalties early on, and went 10-6 ahead before Brad Walters burrowed over to give the Raiders a 12-10 half-time advantage.

The depth of the squad told in the second half as captain Andy Parr posted a hat-trick and further tries from Adam Veale, Greg Jackson, Jon Cranton and Alex Watson, plus a near-perfect effort with the boot from stand-off John Boucher, saw the Raiders pull away.

Swindon could have wilted but did well to stay in contention with their two tries in the second half proving crucial to their two-legged victory.

Belt said: “It was fantastic to be able to host the first open age rugby league game in Reading for around 16 years and the players certainly didn’t disappoint. Despite many never having played the sport before, they picked it up really quickly and were deserving of the win.

“It was great also to have the backing of several old Reading Raiders from the original team of the 1990s and I’m delighted with the way the day went. I look forward to attempting to win back the cup next year and planning for the 2017 season.”