VOLLEYBALL: Cleobury Mortimer's men continued to lack sparkle in the West Midlands League as they dropped to a 3-1 home defeat to Dudley.

The visitors triumphed 25-23, 23-25, 25-22, 25-21 as Cleobury remained in relegation danger, rather than challenging for the top three.

Cleobury, who have a key final game with rivals Telford, fell to Dudley's greater experience in the first set.

But Carl Brookes's hard hits unsettled the opposition to take the second set with the help of excellent back-court work from Paul Guest and Jim Childs.

Skilful hitting from Mike Childs failed to save Cleobury in another close set as Dudley went 2-1 ahead.

Cleobury skipper Nick Di Marco led by example with excellent passing but his team lost concentration again to lose the fourth set.