THE Royal Wootton Bassett and Swindon College Old Boys management both insisted the scorelines failed to do their sides justice as their teams fell to defeat in Southern Counties North this weekend.

Bassett went down 29-17 at home to Thatcham, while Old Boys lost 29-3 to Aylesbury, but both sides enjoyed some good spells of possession but were just not able to make it count.

Old Boys chairman Martin Peaple was pleased with the way his players performed despite not being able to cross for a try, and insisted the league’s bottom side are continuing to move in the right direction.

“The score makes it look like a big defeat but if you watched the game it certainly wasn’t,” he said.

“They managed to score four tries and we didn’t score any, but the game was really close. We were camped on their line on a couple of occasions but just couldn’t break through.

“We slipped up a couple of times and they scored in the corners but after the game I said to the boys that their effort and commitment was outstanding and makes everything worthwhile.

“With the start to the season we’ve had and the injuries we’ve had to cope with, for them to go out there and do what they did was absolutely outstanding.

“Heads can drop, we know that, but we are not on the end of any tankings at the moment and we are in the games. The two teams weren’t that far apart and the effort from the players was incredible.”

Bassett head coach Alan Low also believes his side were better than the result showed but bemoaned their failure to take their chances.

“The score flattered Thatcham I think because we played brilliantly in the first half where we have been slow out the blocks,” he said.

“We’ve been working in training on doing that better at the start of the game but we had a sloppy 15 minutes where we let them score a load of points. It was a funny period of the game and it sent it their way.

“They are a top four side for a reason and they scored all their tries out wide, but we created a load of opportunities and just couldn’t take advantage of them which was our real problem.

“The performance was there and I was really happy with the players, although things didn’t go our way, but it was 100 per cent better than the previous week.”