TROWBRIDGE head coach Dan Jeffries felt his side let the chance to boost their promotion prospects slip through their fingers when they went down 6-3 at local rivals Frome last weekend.

Jeffries’ men made the short trip to Somerset seeking an eighth straight win that would have lifted them up to second in the Southern Counties South table but tricky conditions combined with poor execution proved to be their downfall.

Trowbridge are still third in the standings, four points below Swanage & Wareham in second, but their hopes of going up could be all but over if they are beaten at leaders Wimborne on Saturday.

“Conditions weren’t great but we just didn’t arrive in the right mind-set. We were preoccupied with Wimborne so we weren’t focussed on the task at hand,” said Jeffries.

“The most frustrating thing is that Swanage lost too, so if we’d won, we’d have gone above them.

“It’s a big opportunity missed as now we need to beat Wimborne and hope Wimborne beat Swanage in a few weeks’ time too.”

Despite dominating the play, Trowbridge were unable to make it pay on the scoreboard as the two sides trudged off at half-time at Gypsy Lane still level at 0-0.

The hosts were then first to strike with a penalty and although Tom Weaver restored parity for Trowbridge with a kick of his own, another Frome shot at goal late on was enough to snatch the win.

Jeffries said: “We started well and won seven kickable penalties but we didn’t go for the posts. We probably should have looked to build a score instead of trying to kill the game straight away.”

“We also got over their tryline three times in the first half but twice the referee was on the wrong side, so couldn’t see the grounding, and the other, we dropped the ball.

“Fair play to Frome, they stuck at it and they dogged it out. I think we deserved something from the game and if we’d approached it the same way we do every other game, I’m sure we would have got that.”