Droitwich Spa 6 Halesowen 31

Midlands Division Four West (South)DROITWICH'S promotion hopes were severely dented as they slipped to a heavy defeat at home to Old Halesonians on Saturday.

Defeat to their mid-table opponents proved to be a blow, as they fell a place in the Midlands Division Four West (South) to fifth.

In windy conditions Droitwich never really got started and fell behind to an early try. Pressure on Matt Blackmore allowed the ball to bobble free and a Halesonian player beat Chris Hooper to it to score a try.

A second try by Hales saw Droitwich slip even further behind, before Blackmore pulled a penalty back.

The visitors tried in vain to fight back and pushed their opponents back for long periods of the second half.

However, the home side could not turn territory into points, despite a penalty by Blackmore.

Two late tries then made sure Droitwich suffered their worst defeat of the season and leaves their promotion hopes hanging by a thread.

Director of coaching Julian Bailey pinpointed two reasons for Droitwich's horror show performance.

He said: "I was shocked by the defeat - it came like a bolt out of the blue.

"But if I'm honest we never really deserved to get anything out of this, Old Halesonians were much better.

"I think the defeat to Old Edwardians knocked the stuffing out of us last week and we never recovered.

"Our coach, Mark Evans, was away on business with the RFU (Rugby Football Union) and his input was badly missed.

"Now we have to role up our sleeves and try and get back to how we were doing before."

Droitwich are set for a friendly on Saturday, February 4 against as yet unknown opponents as the Advertiser/Messenger went to press.