Sussex coach Ian Davies today praised his county side for overcoming one moment of "blatant thuggery" to end their County Shield season on a high.

The county ran the ball daringly to overturn a 15-7 deficit and win 26-20 against a Middlesex side packed with experience and physical presence.

It all got a bit too physical when Damien Lyall was decked by a head butt late in the first half.

Former USA and Stade Francais prop Richard Liddington was called aside by officials but escaped with a warning as the home crowd called for a red card.

Sussex retaliated not with punches but by running a big Middlesex pack off their feet to stave off fears of relegation.

It was not enough to get them to Twickenham, as Hertfordshire beat Berkshire 68-0 to top the group.

Sussex would be going to headquarters had they not let slip a 17-point half-time lead last week against a Berks side who shipped 118 points in their two other games.

They can take pride, though, in the result and performance a somewhat makeshift side achieved against a powerful Middlesex outfit.

Davies said: "Win or lose we just wanted to play well for 80 minutes and we did just that, even though it got a bit fractious just before half-time for obvious reasons.

"The guys put it out of their minds at half-time and after that we were the only team playing rugby.

"We ended up with three openside's in the back row and that made a huge difference because we had numbers at the breakdown which sped the ball up.

"Again Danny Peach did everything we asked of him. He got the ball away and made a couple of breaks. We played well as a team."

Peach, the teenage scrum half from Worthing, has been one of the successes of the past three weeks.

The abiding memory from Saturday, though, will be the moment Lyall was felled right in front of a packed grandstand as forwards got to their feet after a break down.

Spectators looked on in disbelief as, almost in slow motion, the life drained from Lyall's face and he toppled to the turf like a falling tree before being revived by medical staff.

Referee Greg Garner was alerted by his touch judge and Liddington called aside, in the company of his captain.

It is likely a doubt over identity saved Middlesex from being reduced in number.

Davies said: "He should have been sent-off, simple as that. At this level you don't expect such blatant thuggery but fortunately we didn't let it affect us."

Instead, Sussex kept playing the running game which had already brought them a cleverly worked try for Lei'ataua Otuhouma in reply to three drive-overs for the Middlesex pack, who barely let the ball get beyond their No. 8.

Asked if their daring game was born out of necessity, Davies said: "No, it's what you get from having two Tongans in the threequarters."

Actually, most of it stemmed from a passable impression of one of Davies's home town heroes, Phil Bennett of not-so-exotic Llanelli, by Ben Dudley with his dummies and sidesteps to light up a commanding performance at No. 10.

A trio of Owen Ashton penalties edged Sussex in front and Dudley's great midfield tackle led to a storming counter raid and the hosts' best spell of the game midway through the second half.

Their decisive second try was a strong close-range finish by Dave Wattam after a wave of pressure sparked by Adam Holloway's exploitation of one of Middlesex's intermittent lineout failures.

Eight points down, Middlesex let their backs see the ball and the ease with which they sent Neil Piggott in at the corner made you wonder why they had not done so earlier.

Ashton replied by persuading another of his ungainly but effective place kicks to creep gently over the bar. It was Sussex as whole, though, who really meted out justice