PERSHORE Rugby Club lost 16-10 at home to Cheltenham North in Midlands Three West (South) with the Wyre Piddle pitch in surprisingly good condition following the floods.
The hosts began strongly, with their forwards dominating the set-pieces, and scored early on when a driving line-out was joined by the backs, allowing number eight Martin Hope to drive over.
Captain Lewis Dolphin converted but Cheltenham capitalised on handling errors and indiscipline with a penalty before half-time.
Pershore mixed their game up well with good inter-linking between the forwards and backs but could not convert territorial dominance into points.
Early in the second-half, the visitors took advantage of missed tackles to cross the whitewash although the conversion was missed.
Pershore dominated at the scrum but failed to win as much line-out ball and both sides had a player sin-binned.
They regained the lead with a penalty but a clever box kick from the Cheltenham scrum-half caused indecision in the defence and the winger touched down in the corner.
The conversion was missed and, despite an onslaught of late pressure from Pershore and numerous penalties, the visitors held out.
Pershore gained a bonus point and head to local rivals Evesham on Saturday looking to complete the double.
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