DRIFTERS head coach Tom Heeks hailed the strength of his squad after their convincing 38-8 win at Didcot.

Heeks was forced to field a severely-depleted side on Saturday following injury to a dozen first-team players.

But that did not stop Drifters from putting in another impressive display as they chalked up their fifth successive victory in Berks, Bucks & Oxon Premier to extend their unbeaten run to 12 matches.

And though Drifters can no longer catch champions-elect Swindon College Old Boys and will have to settle for second place, Heeks stated: “The lads played very well. We blooded some younger players through necessity with 11 or 12 injuries.

“It was a depleted team but we still stuck to the gameplan and it was really good for the guys.

“We wanted to win by a big margin because we cannot catch Swindon on points, but it will help for next season.”

He added: “I do not want to sound over confident but we expected to win. They wanted to fly out of the traps after drawing at our place. Didcot had about 40 players and a lot of support and we expected them to come at us from the off.

“But we wanted to put pressure on them and scored some tries in the first 10 minutes which disheartened them.”

Drifters trail Swindon COB by 11 points and host ninth-placed Tadley this Saturday (3pm ko) in their penultimate game of the season.

Heeks stated: “The Didcot win bodes really well for this week and the young guys will play again. It will be similar to Saturday, it is very important to stick to our strategy, get the performance level high and get a bonus-point win.”