AFTER four wins on the spin, Salisbury RFC slipped to a narrow defeat at the hands of Lydney on Saturday.

The slim 11-5 loss sees Green and Whites slip to second from bottom in National League 3 South West, with seven games left.

Things got off to a woeful start when the hosts, who are based on the west bank of the River Severn, took the lead through Danny Openshaw's penalty.

Shortly after, a cross-field kick was gathered by left-wing Tai Lakibuka on half-way who stepped inside to score and give the home side an 8-0 lead.

And on the half-hour mark, Salisbury were penalised again and dissent moved the kick 10 metres further forward giving Openshaw a straightforward opportunity to increase Lydney's lead to 11-0 at the break.

After the break, an offending home forward enabled Salisbury to establish a drive from the ensuing line-out and the forwards once again gained possession of the ball going forward. The three-quarters took advantage of this to throw a long pass to left-wing, Dan Hammond who scampered over to score in the corner and Tom Lane was unable to convert.

However, they failed to make possession count and, therefore, couldn't find another way through.

Director of rugby, Stewart Roderick, said :"Lydney prevented us from playing the game we want to play.

"However, we gained a losing bonus point, there are still games to play, there are sides we can beat, so on we go."

It's a '10 pointer' on Saturday as bottom-of-the-pile Bromsgrove visit Castle Road in a relegation scrap (2.30pm).