Lowestoft and Yarmouth's slim chances of finishing outside the bottom two in London 3NE were finally snuffed out at Gunton Park on Saturday.
They were beaten 30-19 by visitors West Norfolk, who moved 13 points ahead of them with just one game left to play.
Looking to bounce back from a painful 151-0 defeat at high-flying Harlow the previous weekend, L&Y at least made a game of it this time around, with tries from Airidas Savickas, Chris Burt and Tom Dare, who also landed a couple of conversions.
In the same section Southwold won 33-12 at Basildon to confirm a solid fourth placed finish thanks to tries from Phil Pymer, James Hall, James Barton and Sam Webb.
Southwold are due to end their campaign on Saturday with a home fixture against Ilford Wanderers, but will be mindful that the bottom team conceded their previous away match. L&Y travel to Ely.
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