WESTCLIFF suffered late disappointment in Saturday’s 17-12 defeat to Old Northamptonians.

Westcliff had seemed set to work their way off the foot of the Regional One South East standings with a hard fought win.

But the visitors had other ideas and triumphed right at the death, much to the frustration of Westcliff’s head coach Jimmy Rea whose side gave their all in tough conditions.

“It was the windiest game I’ve seen at the Gables,” said Rea.

“We defended for 25/30 minutes in the first half against the wind but played good running rugby out of our half.

“We just made too many mistakes and kicked away good attacking ball.

“In the second half Old Northamptonians played good running rugby and we didn’t defend as well as we did in the first half.

“Old Northamptonians had two yellows and we didn’t capitalise.”

And that ultimately led to a frustrating defeat.

“We got a penalty try in the last minutes of the game but switched off at kick-off,” said Rea.

“We exited really poorly.

“Old Northamptonians attacked well up the left, narrowed our defence and scored out wide to win the game with the last play.”

Westcliff remain at the foot of the table but are now just a point behind second from bottom Rochford Hundred who they travel to this weekend.

In Counties Two Essex (South), table-topping Basildon won 29-14 at fifth placed Canvey Island and are now six points clear.