Moseley 26

London Scottish 20

Redemption and celebration filled the air at Billesley Common as Moseley savoured arguably their most satisfying victory of the season.

With nothing to play for other than sheer contrariness and what the French would call l'esprit de clocher, Kevin Maggs's men sent the visitors homeward tae think about next weekend's relegation showdown with Esher.

While Mose look forward to a spring break in Devon and a final day knockabout with Plymouth, London Scottish will spend next Saturday battling for their Championship lives.

And in that respect this was a job well done in a fixture that went far beyond Maggs's side merely answering the call of the Moseley bell tower and wanting to finish their home fixtures on a high.

After all, this was Moseley's fourth meeting with Scottish this season and came on the back of three defeats, most pertinently the Boxing Day stuffing when the Exiles were last in Birmingham.

Although the 29-16 scoreline doesn't show it, Mose had their pants pulled down and backsides reddened that day and although the welts have long-since healed it was only this afternoon that their bruised pride began to mend.

That sense of grievance was only exacerbated a few weeks ago when Scottish head coach Simon Amor claimed his side and Esher deserved to stay in the Championship - the implication being that either Moseley or Plymouth did not.

And so it was with unseasonable gusto the home fowards tore into the visitors' pack in a match on which, for them at least, nothing tangible hung.

Yet there were clips here, skelps there - even the odd late hit as Moseley tried to force Scottish and their catalyst Amor on to the back foot.

For a while there was something of the headless chicken about Moseley and much of their frenzied effort was neutered by a lack of composure. Needless penalties and a poor lineout limited them to just five first half points when they could have harvested 20.

By contrast Scottish made something of their chances in the opening 50 minutes and in centres Ryan Westren and Charlie Hayter, who scored twice, looked to have brought a stiletto to an arm wrestle.

That helped the Londoners into a 17-5 lead as a couple more defensive slips threatened to decisively undermine Moseley and waste David Lyons's third try in as many games.

But back they came, undeterred. With Neil Mason at his fractious best the Red and Blacks niggled and nudged their way back into proceedings and once Adam Caves located his radar the lineout brought Mose back into the match.

First Mike Ellery scored off a catch and drive before Caves finished off a similar movement in the left corner.

Those strikes sandwiched a penalty try from a 5m scrum as Moseley's front five achieved a dominance in which they clearly revelled.

All that remained was to ensure Scottish left empty-handed with just four points between them and Esher.

Thankfully for Amor they grabbed a last gasp loss bonus with Dan Mugford's penalty - a return they could really come to appreciate next Saturday.

But not even that could temper the feeling that Moseley had finally ripped a monkey from their backs and pounded it into the Billesley turf in a performance that might have lacked something in accuracy but absolutely nothing in commitment.

MOSELEY: Thomas; Robinson, King (Adams 74), Reay, Hunt; Davies, Glynn (Brown 78); Gadd (Fairbrother 78), Caves, Quigley (ODonnell 78), Lyons, Sanderson (Stott 71), Mason (Tyas 77), Pons, Ellery (Maltman 73)

SCOTTISH: Peel; Grove, Westren, Hayter, Mullen; Mugford, Amor (Stephenson 30); Auterac (Clarke 38), Kwasnicki (Stanfield 57), Liffchak (MacKenzie 65), Pape (Lipp 53), Karonias, Kellard, Winslade (Lonergan 71), Bright. Not used: Morris

Referee: Darren Gamage (RFU)