Trailing 22-8 at the interval, Darren Lloyd's men looked to be heading towards their first home defeat of the season, with the visitors seemingly on course to complete a double against their Bristol-based counterparts. But Clifton are made of much sterner stuff this season, and a stirring second-half performance saw them turn the game on its head, as they rattled up 20 unanswered point to keep their promotion hopes alive.

Lloyd said: "We made a good start and took an early lead, but from then on, it was all Taunton in the first half. We weren't that bad, but to be fair, they were very good. Their set-piece functioned and they were more physical than us.

"But we were fantastic in the second half – the best we've played all season, in fact. The boys are proud of their unbeaten home record this season, and you could see by the sheer effort and work-rate that they were not going to give it up without a fight – we were magnificent." Clifton took the lead with a penalty from fly-half Charlie Foley before the Titans took over. Scrum-half Stewart Townsend caused Clifton all sorts of problems with a series of sniping breaks that resulted in him racing in for a brace of tries.

Nick Mason added a try for the visitors after charging down Tom Preece's attempted clearance kick, while Taunton full-back Gary Kingdom added two conversions and a penalty to give the visitors a healthy 22-3 advantage as the sides headed towards the break. Clifton, however, crucially kept in touch when No 8 Hugo Govett went over from close range to make it 20-8 at the turnaround.

And the pendulum began to swing in Clifton's favour after the break – they were quicker to the breakdown, more physical in the tackle and bossed the breakdowns.

Replacements Ben Johnstone and James Stephenson were introduced to the fray and made an immediate impact, so much so that Stephenson won the man-of-the-match award solely for his superb second-half showing.

Hooker Paul Fincken was driven over for an unconverted try, following a long-range driving maul, to reduce the deficit to nine points.

Replacement stand-off Brad Barnes slotted a brace of penalties, and added the extras when wing Ben Foley scrambled into the corner to give the hosts a six-point lead. Taunton finished in the ascendancy, but Clifton's defence held firm.

Read more: http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/Coach-Darren-praises-Clifton-s-magnificent-second/story-20740411-detail/story.html#ixzz2utjJoI35