Whitchurch’s poor run of form in Midlands 1 continued on Saturday as they slipped to their fourth defeat in a row going down 12-5 away at Walsall.

The visitors had to wait until the final three minutes before they troubled the scorers – Mike Woodhouse going over in the corner after good work by Jimmy Mullock.

By then any hope of a result had gone thanks to four first half penalties from Walsall’s influential fly half Matt Wood.

The result extinguished Whitchurch’s lingering promotion ambitions with the side now playing for fifth place in their final two games of the season.

Club president John Gregory said: “We didn’t play particularly well on Saturday. The Walsall defence was very strong and we didn’t manage to break them down. Their fly half had a very good game and dictated the play for them.

“It was a low scoring game and although we had our moments in Walsall territory we couldn’t find a breakthrough.”

The result means Whitchurch haven’t tasted league success since February 13, – a run Gregory is keen to end.

He said: “It’s a while since we last won a game so we’ll be looking to put that right.

“We want to win our last two games to end the season on a high. We play Bourneville on the last day of the season and that is a game we will be keen to win. They beat us narrowly earlier in the season and so we’ll be out for revenge.”

Meanwhile, Oswestry ensured another season in South Lancashire/Cheshire 1 with a hard-fought 8-3 win over Warrington.

The Eagles trailed to an early penalty but a Rich Owen try just before the break put the home side in front and a second half Andy Howells penalty was enough to give the home side the points.

Owen’s try came with Warrington down to 13 men and the three sin bins picked up by the visitors in the end proved costly.

Oswestry also saw Chris Hesketh yellow carded in the final 10 minutes as they survived a late rally by the visitors.