Droitwich 10 Ledbury 18

THE RELEGATION trap door swung perilously open below Droitwich after they lost this crucial match on Saturday.

Defeat ensured Spa are firmly stuck at the bottom of the Midlands Division Three West (South).

The result from Saturday's replay was also a bitter pill for Director Julian Bailey and his players to swallow, after Spa had been leading December's original fixture 10-7, before an injury to the referee forced the game off.

If the original game's result had stood then Droitwich's chances of prising themselves off the bottom would have been much greater.

However, Bailey told the Advertiser/Messenger the drop is almost a forgone conclusion.

He said: "We know it's going to be almost impossible to avoid relegation this season.

"It would take a miracle for us to avoid going down.

"But we can beat anybody on our day so we must go out there and try and end the season strongly."

Droitwich knew they had the beating of their fellow relegation rivals after coming so close to defeating them in December.

Phil Horton handed Spa the best possible start when he touched down for a try in the seventh minute, which Gareth Cogan converted.

Despite a Ledbury penalty Droitwich went into half time leading 7-3.

However, Ledbury responded with gusto and two tries and a penalty saw the game slip away from Spa.

Cogan replied with a penalty, but the sending off of Matt Jupp stifled any chances of saving the game.

Bailey felt some of his players had not been mentally right for the crunch clash.

He said: "The players let the occassion get to them and our nerves really stopped us from playing our natural game."

Now the coach has the difficult task of lifting his shell shocked players for Saturday's home game against Bedworth (2.30pm start).

He said: "I've told them there's still a lot of games to go and that anything can happen."