Bromsgrove 13 Dudley Kingswinford 31

Midlands Division One

BELEAGUERED Bromsgrove's long path back took a faltering step forward as they produced a battling performance against high-flying Dudley Kingswinford on Saturday.FLANKS FOR THE MEMORY:A Bromsgrove player goes wide to open up Dudley.

Bromsgrove may have slipped to their 18th defeat of the season, a result that confirms them as the Midlands Division One's bottom side, but director of coaching Iain Hall believes that his side is making gradual improvement.

He said: "We have started scoring points and conceding less. We're getting a lot closer to what we want.

"I'm looking for individual performances and they're definitely improving."

Bromsgrove suffered defeat after they made a slow start and allowed Dudley to streak into a 19-3 by half time.

However, the Boars never gave up and really took the fight to their former league opponents, with two second half tries closing the gap.

Hall said: "Considering we were up against a side with a budget about two and a half times the size of our own they weren't that much better than us.

"They won the first half and we won the second, it's as simple as that."

Up against a side that only last season was playing at a national level Bromsgrove made the fatal mistake of a slow start at Finstall Park. The Boars were carved open by Andy McLellan for a try, converted by Simon Fletcher.

McLellan made things more difficult for Bromsgrove by setting up Fletcher for a second try.

Kent Summerfield pulled a penalty back but Steve Smart grabbed a converted effort, as Dudley went 19-3 ahead.

Smart gave the Boars a mountain to climb when he scored early in the second half to make it 24-3.

Bromsgrove though remained unfazed by the scoreline and took the fight to Dudley.

Bromsgrove's pack drove a maul over the try line for a touch down to make it 24-8.

Ollie Shakespeare's sin binning then gave Bromsgrove an extra man advantage to aid them.

However, Dudley struck again when Rhys Crane scored a try and Fletcher converted.

The home side though stood fast to resist late pressure and Richard Stockholm intercepted McLellan's pass and bagged an injury time touch down to end a difficult match on a relative high.

Bromsgrove take on Bedford Athletic on Saturday, March 11.