Rosslyn Park skipper Richard Mahony called for his players to battle their way clear of the relegation zone on Saturday, but a determined start could not prevent them losing 47-20 away to an average Cinderford side.
Park went ahead when Adam Gates released Chris King to dance round the defence and touch down, with Mahony's touchline conversion making it 7-0. Slack play then allowed Cinderford to score from an overlap and level the scores at 7-7.
While Park missed a penalty, Cinderford added two to be 13-7 ahead at the interval. The second infringement saw Rhys Lapidus sent to the sin bin in injury time.
Starting the second half with 14 men, into the teeth of a strong wind, Park put up a fierce fight and actually took a 14-13 lead with a try by Adam Blemings which Mahony converted from the touchline.
But fly-half Phil Greenaway kicked three points for Cinderford and then converted the simplest of tries to make it 23-14. Although Mahony put Park back in the contest at 23-17, they conceded a converted try after losing lock Alex McGuckian through injury to trail 30-17.
A determined run from Martin Ridley forced another penalty, which Mahony kicked, but Cinderford landed a similar kick to make it 33-20. Despite losing their scrum-half to the sin bin, Cinderford added another converted try.
A body check by Gates led to Park also being reduced to 14 men and they conceded a further converted try in the closing minutes.
Park: R Jackson; Traynor, King, Ridley, Canty; Mahony; Lapidus (McCluggage); Heenan, Blemings (Kearns), Drayson (Cooke); McGuckian (Street), Forster; Gates, Rodman, Underwood.
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