STRATFORD-upon-Avon RFC suffered an agonising 29-24 defeat against Moseley Oak although the visitors did come away with two bonus points.
Stratford ran in four tries courtesy of scores from Charlie Powell, Lewis Mellor, David Pritchard and Tom Houlahan although a late sin-bin allowed Moseley to steal the points at Billesley Common.
The result means Stratford sit seventh in the Regional 2 Midlands West table.
And the visitors made the perfect start when Powell picked up a loose ball and ran in from 80-metres out after just three minutes following a huge hit by Angus Wightman with Nathan Geekie adding the extras.
Moseley responded with an unconverted try in the corner before Stratford held up another home attack over the line and the hosts missed with a penalty attempt at the posts.
However, Stratford stretched their lead when Mellor broke through the line and dotted down in the corner from Andy Oliver’s offload.
A stunning 50-22 kick from Bobby Scott-Walker kept Stratford in the ascendancy before Pritchard juggled Jo Cook’s pass and touched down only to injure himself in the process.
Moseley reduced the deficit to five points close to the half-hour mark following a period of sustained pressure on the Stratford line.
And the home side turned the game on its head five minutes later with another try from a driving maul.
However, Stratford hit back with their bonus point try when Houlahan burst through a gap at the back of a lineout and produced a fine step to cut inside and score under the posts with Geekie converting.
Stratford took a five-point lead into the break as Moseley lost a player to the sin-bin at the start of the second period.
And Moseley had another player sent to the sin-bin four minutes later for an off-the-ball tackle which denied Stratford a clear try-scoring opportunity.
However, Stratford’s James Walton was sent the sin-bin soon after he was caught on the wrong side of the ruck.
Moseley scored the first try of the second half near the hour mark from a driving maul after overpowering Stratford at the scrum as the conversion hit the post with the scores now level.
The home side then missed with a penalty attempt before Stratford lost Will Dobbin to the sin-bin in the closing stages.
Moseley continued to pile on the pressure with the extra man and eventually scored the game’s decisive try after charging down an attempted clearing kick.
Stratford are next in action against Newent on Saturday, October 12 with kick-off at 3pm at Pearcecroft.
