WHITCHURCH went down to a 27-10 defeat at home to Walsall in the second division of the West Midlands League on Saturday.

The visitors arrived as overwhelming favourites having totted up 99 points in their humiliation of Droitwich the previous week.

However it was the Reds who began the brighter with early pressure leading to a penalty which Isaac Wilding spurned in the opening minutes.

Walsall made the most of their reprieve and broke the deadlock with an unconverted 19th minute try.

Whitchurch were temporarily reduced to 14 men with Nathan Horton sent to the sin bin for a high tackle with full-back Tom Skone leading home resistance until the stroke of half-time when the the visitors increased their advantage with a converted try.

OTHER NEWS:

Whitchurch faced an uphill struggle when a dropped pass in the opening minute of the second-half led to Walsall capitalising for their third try with Walsall soon adding a fourth.

Whitchurch continued to battle and were rewarded in the 75th minute as Tom Hale barged through and off loaded to Jack Rowley on the wing to score giving Whitchurch a slither of hope.

Walsall soon responded with their fifth try of the day but Whitchurch had the final say with Hale driving over for a late consolation try.

Jake Rees, who played his 200th game for the club, said: “It was a tough game against a strong experienced forward team with well organised backs.”

"We made a few mistakes that we paid heavily for but on the whole the team is starting to get more competitive.”

Whitchurch travel to Droitwich on Saturday while the reserves host Warley in division three of the Midlands West (North) League.