CLEOBURY Mortimer returned to winning ways in Midlands Four West (South) with a 10-7 success over TrinityGuild.

After Southam removed their unbeaten tag the previous week, there was a large demanding home crowd.

Cleobury were without injured influential fly-half Colin Smith so Julian Harding stepped in and James Allen was back on the wing.

The home side set off at a furious pace down the slope and it was not long before Harding touched down in the corner for an unconverted try.

Dominant Cleobury created chances but could not kill Trinity off and Rob Norris missed three penalties.

It was some relief when Harding was able to use other runners as dummies to slice through for his second score which was again unconverted.

With a slender 10-0 advantage, a fraught second half was in prospect but Cleobury held on through sheer determination.

This was despite a poor second-half display and a late converted try from Trinity.

Promising youth James Grieg made a brief debut on the wing.

Shrewsbury 4ths 12

Cleobury 2nds 5

Cleobury fell 12-5 to experienced Shrewsbury in the new Shropshire Merit Table with the excellent Chris Gittins scoring his third try of the season and Chris Bunn looking promising.