Luctonians 17 Bromsgrove 0

Midlands Division One

LACKLUSTRE Bromsgrove's hopes of a top three finish were killed off by a determined Luctonians side on Saturday.

Two first half tries condemned Bromsgrove to their second straight defeat in the Midlands Division One and ensure that third placed Dunstablians are seven points ahead.

Director of coaching Dean Ball believes his side had an off day.

He said: "We had too many changes on the day and we didn't play anywhere near our best.

"Let's hope we've got our one bad performance of the season out of the way now."

Ball was forced to reshuffle the team which drew 25-25 with Derby after Tom Churchill pulled out because of a head injury.

Mark Cornelius replaced Churchill at hooker, while Richard Arnold moved to the back row.

In wet weather the game descended into a gritty battle early on which Luctonians dominated.

Scrum-half Nick Copson was unable to orchestrate Bromsgrove's attacks.

Bromsgrove finally cracked in the 20th minute when a swift move by Luctonians allowed centre Heather to score a try which James converted.

The visitors were then stunned when winger Panniers touched down James converted.

A penalty late in the first half then completed the scoring.

After the break Bromsgrove did their best to battle back into the game but lacked the final killer touch to threaten Luctonians' defence.

Ball said: "We had a few of our best players missing and that really had a major impact.

"The conditions also weren't easy and Luctonians adapted much better to them."