Bracknell

Lydney ............................39 Bracknell ........................10

Bracknell's latest setback summed up their season as they crashed to another depressing defeat at Lydney last weekend.

The Lily Hill Park men played well in patches; scored the first try of the game to take an early 7-0 lead; shipped 19 points in a crazy 10-minute spell; but were still in contention at the break despite trailing 22-10.

However, Bracknell were then limited to a courageous defensive effort in the second half as they struggled to spark anything in attack in the second 40 minutes.

Their heroic defensive efforts in the second half deserved much praise but Lydney were still able to plunder three more tries and 17 unanswered points as Bracknell slumped to a 15th defeat in 16 games.

Coach Jamie Turner tried to put a brave face on the defeat afterwards but admitted his side had offered little as an attacking force in the second half.

He said: "It was a scrappy first half but we started okay and scored the first try. We were leading 10-3 and there wasn't much to choose between the two sides but then we had a mad 10 minute spell in which we conceded three tries and suddenly we were chasing the game again.

"In the second half we defended well but just couldn't create anything. We were very dis-jointed after the break as there wasn't enough creativity and we weren't able to retain possession.

"We finally cracked for a couple of tries before the end which was disappointing but I couldn't really fault the defensive effort."

It had all started so brightly for the Bracknell in the first half as they took an early 5-0 lead after new American flanker Tommy Dolan took advantage of some indecision in the Lydney defence to power over.

Sebastian Berti slotted the conversion to give Bracknell a 7-0 lead and although Lydney slotted a penalty shortly afterwards following some indiscipline in the loose, the Chilean fly-half quickly restored the visitors' seven-point lead with a fine drop goal.

Bracknell were good value for their 10-3 lead as the game entered the final 10 minutes of the first half but as has happened so many times this season they seemed to switch off and were ruthlessly made to pay for their lack of concentration.

Lydney took full advantage of some sloppy Bracknell defending to run in three quick tries before the break, with a couple of successful conversions helping them establish a 22-10 lead.

Those 19 unanswered points in a devastating 10 minute spell shattered Bracknell who, after being the better side for the opening 30 minutes, suddenly found themselves 12 points down as the result of a few sloppy moments.

To their credit, Bracknell dug deep in the second half and managed to work some good field position early on.

They forced a penalty and kicked to the corner in an attempt to establish a plat-form for a forward drive, but the casual kick failed to find touch and Lydney were able to relieve the pressure with ease.

Despite that missed opportunity Bracknell continued to compete but repeatedly found themselves forced back as poor decision making and a lack of concentration under-mined their efforts.

Bracknell were finally made to pay for some casual defence on the halfway line as Lydney turned the ball over and after a spell of sustained pressure scored a fourth try to finally take the game beyond the visitors.

Lydney took total charge from then on and it became little more than a defensive exercise for the Bracknell players. They resisted bravely for long periods but were finally undone when Berti elected to run from within his own goal area.

His belated attempt to clear the ball over the advancing home back line failed and Lydney found themselves with another easy seven points on the board to the obvious delight of the partisan home crowd.

Lydney ran in a sixth try in the closing stages of the game to give the scoreline a slightly unflattering look, but although they battled onto the end Bracknell could have few complaints about the result as they were undone by a lack of creativity and some poor decision making.

ic Berkshire ~ Bracknell