THE scoreline was not the only thing that was low after a 7-6 home defeat to fellow strugglers Wednesbury left Kidderminster Carolians sinking deeper into Midlands Three West North trouble.

With KCs starting the survival scrap just one point ahead of their relegation rivals it was imperative that the Marlpool Lane men produced a winning performance.

And after triumphing 16-11 at Wednesbury last December, KCs got off to a solid start by opening up a 6-0 lead with two Andy Stooksbury penalties inside the first five minutes.

But the visitors responded well and looked the better, more organised side despite some good work by the Kidderminster forwards.

Having threatened to score a try only for Ambro Neri to intervene with a timely tackle on 10 minutes, Wednesury launched an all-out offensive.

It eventually resulted in their left-winger Douglas Morgan crossing the line without a KCs man in sight and stand-off Andrew Hawkins confidently added the extras.

That was to complete the scoring for the half and for the game as KCs struggled to overturn their narrow deficit.

Just before the break a 40-yard penalty from Stooksbury fell just short of the target while replacement stand-off Greg Fincher failed with a 35-yard effort in the second half.

KCs' habit of failing to release the ball early enough when confronted by a defender came back to haunt them again as they wasted severa scoring chances.

Despite the Kidderminster lineout working well and Matt Bennett winning some good ball, they lost the second phase play far too often and for Wednesbury, Hawkins' kicking was supplemented by full back Andrew Field who regularly cleared his lines.

The game became a stalemate, and only in the final minute did it look as if KCs would score, only for their star man Neri to be floored by two opponents within touching distance of the line.

Although KCs took crums of comfort from the fact the other strugglers Willenhall, Old Salteinans and Telford lost, they really are entering the last chance saloon.

They will be banking on a much-needed two points from their game in hand at Wolverhampton on Saturday.

But even if they take a maximum haul from that and their final game at Sutton Coldfield, their suvival is not assured with league bosses yet to reveal how many teams will face the drop.

KCs seconds exacted a small measure of revenge over Wednesbury by easing tio a 25-0 away win with Owen Jones bagging a brace and Russ Slater, Matt Such and Andy Webber also on target.

There was a heavy defeat for the thirds, however, as they went down 52-12 at home to Worcester Wanderers with tries from Alex Hinds and Jon Laight and a Nick Kay conversion.