KIDDERMINSTER Carolians consolidated their position at the top of Midlands Three West North with an 18-7 win at Selly Oak.

KCs, however, had to dig deep with six players out through injury. Teenager Jon Mounter came in at stand-off while another youngster, James Lloyd-Jones moved to full back to be replaced in the centre by Will Hill.

A heavy pitch with several inches of grass was not going to make things easy for KCs, but they went ahead with a Mounter penalty on 15 minutes.

Selly Oak looked dangerous on the break and they proved that in the 27th minute when Bruce Grey went over for a try. He added the conversion to give Selly Oak a 7-3 half time lead.

KCs came out with a different attitude. Mounter was short with a penalty but made no mistake in the 54th minute to with a kick to reduce the gap to 7-6.

Five minutes later, KCs went ahead. Lloyd-Jones touched down on the left and Mounter's conversion made it 13-7.

Jason Sunderland then set up KCs' second try when he set off on a run before and after fine work from Hill, Lloyd-Jones pounced for the score.

Team manager Phil Knowles was full of praise for his troops.

"It was an all-round team display," he said.

"Our youngsters gave everything and can take a lot of credit. We used a lot of common sense in that second half, but also played some nice rugby."