Lowestoft & Yarmouth 7, Upminster 22 L&Y suffered their second consecutive loss to a lower ranked side than themselves, when they succumbed to only their second home loss in two years against Upminster.

Lowestoft & Yarmouth 7, Upminster 22

L&Y suffered their second consecutive loss to a lower ranked side than themselves, when they succumbed to only their second home loss in two years against Upminster.

Quite why L&Y are struggling to find any enthusiasm for the contest is beyond Director of Rugby Scott Nelson.

'Attendance at training has been poor for a few weeks and its starting to show on the pitch which is really disappointing considering the previous 18 months this team has had,' he said. 'If it was just the weather and time of year then every team would have the same problem.'

L&Y didn't have the same problems with selection as the previous week so, with it also being a home game, this loss was in many ways more disappointing than last week's game away to Billericay. Upminster came with high expectations of a tough game and their efficient drilling and superior fitness were soon evident.

It was obvious L&Y were out of sorts but to their credit they managed to contain the lively Essex side with some scrambling defence and solid first phase play. There was no lack of ambition from either side but it was usually Upminster who looked the most likely to break free, even though they couldn't sustain any territory inside the L&Y 22 primarily due to Nelson's superb booming left boot.

Their influential scrum half, Pavitt, missed three attempts at goal and fly-half, Lowe, directed another effort wide, so when L&Y finally put together a concerted attack deep into the Upminster half on 35 minutes, they were rightly frustrated.

An attempt to slow the ball release right in front of the posts saw the visitor's centre head to the bin, and from the resulting tapped penalty massive prop Jake Titterington barged through three tackles and lunged over the line for the first points. Lewis Davey converted, but shortly afterwards Pavitt slotted his fourth attempt to make the break 7-3 behind.

Upminster started the second half at a blistering pace and from a midfield position on the 22, several charges eventually caused a hole for the hooker to tear through and wrong-foot the final defender under the posts. With the conversion successful, the visitors were ahead so L&Y tried to valiantly to come back into the game.

Tom Castleton and Nelson were trying to release speedsters Myles McAlone and Daniel Boardley but all to no avail, especially as any scrum ball was now next to useless as Upminster began to dominate and drive through the L&Y pack.

With L&Y committing too many to forwards to the breakdowns, their backline was exposed in defence and in the space of five minutes, two tries by their powerful left wing put the game beyond the home team's reach.

Certainly if they do not find some inspiration before next week, the speedy backline from Norwich will show L&Y a clean pair of heels in their rescheduled Norfolk Cup match.

Team: Bristo, Newton, Titterington, Coleman, Wilkinson, Cashman, Davey, Thomas, Castleton, Nelson, Lewis, Adams, McAlone, Taylor Crisp, Boardley

Bench: Oakes, Scheijde, Titterington S.