VOLLEYBALL: Cleobury Mortimer failed to secure their first National League win of the season after losing a deciding set at home to City of Salford.

They went down 25-27, 25-23, 30-32, 26-24, 10-15 in a gruelling two-hour plus encounter between two determined and evenly matched sides.

Cleobury worked hard to pull back an early deficit with good hitting and blocking from Clare Jones and Lyndsey Rankin.

The awesome power of Rankin ensured Cleobury equalised with victory in the second set.

Becky Brookes continued to set consistently and intelligently in a blockbuster of a third set which lasted 31 minutes.

Salford clinched it but then Cleobury equalised again as their defence proved too tough with Eva Mort and Sam O'Connor among the stars.

However, the visitors capitalised on a string of serving and hitting errors to eventually triumph, despite the efforts of player-of-the-day Rankin.