WEYMOUTH 12 FROME II 15

WEYMOUTH head coach Paul Harding heaped praise on his side despite seeing them go down to an agonising defeat at the hands of Frome Seconds.

After beating the big freeze, the Seasiders were leading 12-7 at Mon-mouth Avenue until a late try and a last-gasp penalty inflicted a cruel loss on the hosts.

Harding admitted to feeling “gutted” by the outcome and was left to rue a number of controversial decisions from the match official.

He said: “It was a massive disappointment but I can’t praise my players enough as they were magnificent and could not have done any more.

“In terms of the forwards it was the best performance I have seen from a Weymouth pack for a long time.

“Unfortunately though, the gods were against us and we didn’t get the rub of the green in terms of the referee’s decisions. When they infringed they got away with it but when we infringed we didn’t.

“They were also awarded a dubious penalty try and it played a major factor. The referee claimed we only had one defender when the offence was committed but we had four players back so I don’t think they would have gone on to score.”

Tim Peplow kicked all of the home side’s points while the visitors benefited from seeing the first team’s clash with Dorchester fall victim to the wintry weather.

Harding added: “Frome were a good side and had six or seven of their first-team regulars.

“Our defence was fantastic though and I’m absolutely gutted to have lost the game.

“That’s the way the cookie crumbles sometimes but there were plenty of positives to take from the game and I can’t criticise the team.

“We have been very lucky this year and Saturday was the cherry on top.”