Sedgley Tigers 15 Pertemps Bees 14

Pertemps Bees' Director of Rugby Ben Harvey must be hoping the rugby gods answer his prayers sooner rather than later, after this defeat saw the Bees slip into the bottom three.

Leading 14-0 at the break they went on to experience the recurring nightmare that has dogged them so far this season - failing to turn pressure into points.

"At half time I told them that all we had to do was control the ball, but unfortunately that requires composure and courage and we did not have enough of either," he snapped.

"We know we can play effective rugby and score from it; in the first half we controlled the ball, moved it into the right areas, played with pace and scored when we had the opportunities, but we can't close a game out."

The reason for that, he believes, is the lack of investment in the playing strength which is already taking its toll.

"We only had 25 fit players to select from and some of them are not of the required standard," he blasted.

"Because of the size of the squad we are relying on the same people to see us through. Alex Davidson and Gareth McComb are both absolutely shattered; they haven't had a break and they are carrying injuries, but the size of the squad does not allow us to give guys like them the break they need.

"We literally had just four fit back rowers and one of them, Jack Preece, is just 18 years old. It was Mark Gaby's first game back from injury and I had to put him on ten minutes earlier than I would have liked because Davidson's shoulder is in a pretty bad way."

For Harvey, National One survival is now down to his budget.

"It was slashed as soon as I got the job and you can see we are paying the price. I'm frustrated, the players are frustrated and the supporters must be frustrated."

Against Sedgley the Bees had the edge in possession and territorial advantage in the first half, their rush defence frustrating the Tigers, forcing them into unforced errors.

On 19 minutes winger Reece Spee was racing for the right-hand corner only to be bundled into touch a metre short.

Five minutes later a determined rolling maul won a penalty, with fly half Jon Higgins' touch-finder giving his forwards a five-metre lineout from where a textbook catch-and-drive saw lock Davidson claim the opening try, converted by Higgins.

Then following a successful lineout five metres inside the Tigers' half on 33 minutes, Higgins went on a jinking run towards the posts before off-loading in the tackle to winger Aisea Havilli, who touched down to give Higgins the simplest of conversions to make it 0-14 to the Bees.

As expected the home side emerged for the second half in determined mood. Fly half Phil Jones got his side back in the game with a successful 30-metre penalty kick as the Tigers began to dominate, particularly in the tight, starving the Bees of possession.

Turnover ball was then used well by Jones and scrum half Jamie Albinson, who combined to send centre Chris Briers over in the corner for an unconverted try.

With ten minutes to go Jones missed a second penalty kick but minutes later he cut through the Bees' defence before offloading to Briers and he raced to the posts for his and his side's second try with Jones following up with the extra two points.

The dying minutes saw the Tigers' controlled pick-and-go last at least 20 phases before the Bees won a turnover, but by then it was too late.

SEDGLEY TIGERS: Hall (T Albinson, 64), Payne, Craig, Briers, Van DeVenter, Jones, J Albinson, Gazzola, Roddam, Du Plessis, Norris (Townson, 52), Crous (Fourie, 74), Newton, Ponton, Skurr. Replacements: Birchall, Keys, Livesey, Nutt. PERTEMPS BEES: Vakacegu (Aston, 66), Spee, Grove, Knight, Havilli (Mitchell, 52), Higgins, Griffiths, Long (Redelinghuys, 72), Pearl, Osbourn (Bucknall, 41), Davidson (Gaby, 52), Uakazuwaka, Matthews, Daish, McComb (Preece, 66). Replacement: Fellows.