A penalty try conceded in the final minute of time added denied Weston what would have been a deserved losing bonus point against the league leaders at the Recreation Ground.

Having taken an early lead with Glenn Dickson’s first penalty, they were almost immediately overtaken by a brace of tries by visiting wings Poole and Foxley, both converted by scrum-half Brooks

Playing with the strong wind in their favour, the Reds pressed hard.

But superb defending by the hosts, particularly their back row of Cronan Gleeson, Ben Cox and skipper George Sparks kept the attackers at bay and the Seasiders had the energy to mount an attack of their own to set up Dickson’s second penalty for an interval score of 6-14.

Weston applied further pressure through their pack early in the second half and they were rewarded with Dickson’s third penalty.

As Redingensians replied, there came a series of events which brought the Seasiders back into the match.

Dickson’s wind-assisted 22-metre drop-out carried 75 metres to the visitors’ goal-line and within three minutes the No 10 had brought the score back to 12-14 with his fourth penalty.

But there were still 20 minutes of normal time remaining and although Weston defended superbly until stoppage time, the pressure took its toll and the visitors took maximum advantage.

It is a pity that this defeat may consign them to relegation, but there are two matches remaining and the season is not over yet.

Weston-super-Mare: R Bennett; S Edwards, K Middlemiss, O Snook, H Jones; G Dickson, H Tuttiett; S Coles, M Hocking, O Streeter, S Eaton, A Russell, G Sparks (c), B Cox, C Gleeson. Replacements used: S Fisher, A Glen, C Young.

Weston-super-Mare scorers: pens: Glenn Dickson (3); dg: Glenn Dickson