MALVERN Rugby Club were defeated 28-17 at home against Old Laurentians on Saturday in a Midlands Two West bottom-of-the-table clash

David Robins, director of rugby,is still confident that the Spring Lane side will pull away from relgation.

He said: "The lads are very down after this latest setback, knowing that they have now lost to two fellow-strugglers in the relegation dogfight. Our season has been dogged by injury, which means that we haven't been able to field a settled side.

"We have, with the exception of Broad Street, competed closely in most of our matches without being able to kill sides off. We now face some of the higher-placed sides over the next few games, but whatever the problems, the spirit is there.

"With 14 games still to go and few points covering the bottom-half of the table, I'm confident that we can reverse our fortunes and claw our way out of trouble.

"There were some positives to be taken from Saturday's game, Han and Dixon had good debuts, whilst Phil Rowle will give us some extra edge in the back row."