St Austell had the long journey home to contemplate how they managed to leave their Bristol hosts with only a point to show for their efforts, in a game they should have won comfortably.

Saints got off to a perfect start, from a scrum just inside the Clevedon half scrum half Sam Tank linked his half-back partner Andy Ashwin who broke the first line of defence before unloading to the supporting Adam Kellow, who took the ball on before giving the try scoring pass to winger Konnor Ewudzi to complete a brilliant team try, leaving Saints 5-0 up.

Saints needed to continue with the fast tempo game that created space on the small Clevedon pitch, however errors started creeping into their game, with players running out of support or knocking on in contact and these mistakes let Clevedon back into the game. First centre Mike Taylor kicked a difficult penalty to put the hosts on the scoreboard and luckily for Saints halfway through the first half he missed an easier kick which would have given the hosts the lead.

For the remainder of the half St Austell were on top and although they threatened the Clevedon line, lack of confidence and wrong options ensured the relieved home side went into the break only 5-3 down.

The second half started badly for Saints when a dropped kick-off first led to a home scrum and not rolling away at the subsequent ruck, allowed Mike Taylor to convert an easy penalty to put Clevedon 6-5 ahead. Back came the Saints but Clevedon, who defended well all match, kept their line intact. Clevedon on one of their few forays into the St Austell half scored the decisive try, when a long pass found winger Richard Haines in space wide out, allowing him to sneak over in the corner. St Austell upped their game and spent the last 20 minutes of the match camped in the home 22 with numerous 5 yard scrums and despite being over the line 3 times, the ref deemed the ball didn’t get to ground, and the final whistle sounded with them still pounding at the line to no avail.

A lot of credit must go to the Clevedon defence, but despite playing better than in recent weeks, Saints are still lacking the cutting edge to finish teams off and once the confidence and fluidity returns will get back to winning ways.

Next week the Saints are at home to Cullompton.