DROITWICH Spa RFC's director of rugby Julian Bailey believes his First XV's 58-0 thrashing at Silhillians was no surprise given the club's injury crisis.

Bailey currently has nine first team personnel on the casualty list, including prop Jethro Tedman, out for the season, and was only able to field a handful of regulars for last Saturday's Midlands Three West (South) match.

And not all of those were fit as Matt Blackmore played with his injured thumb strapped up and Tom Child has only just recovered from a neck injury.

The Glyn Mitchell Memorial Ground club even had to cancel its Third XV match as there simply were not enough players to go round.

So the result came as little surprise to Bailey.

He said: "In all honesty with the team we went there with I wasn't expecting any miracles because we have got a mixture of young lads and older players helping us out in our hour of need. It would have been a miracle if we had won it.

"It was a heavy defeat but we had guys playing in positions they weren't used to playing in. We have literally been calling guys in the morning and asking if they can play for us.

"Of course it was disappointing but we played against a team we have always had close battles with and we went to their own back yard with almost a second side.

"It would be fair to say that any team which lost two thirds of their first team players would suffer the same fate as we have."

It was the second game in a row and third this season in which Spa have failed to score a single point although they still occupy fifth spot in the league.

But Bailey was not downhearted about the defeat as he has confidence in a squad that has won 11 times already this season.

He added: "If I had had my full side out we would have put 50 points past them.

"We had a very good year last year when we had not got injuries. We have had a good half to this year but since Christmas we have been obviously hampered with injuries.