DUDLEY Kingswinford dug deep to secure a compelling 24-19 success over Midlands One West promotion rivals Newbold-on-Avon and leapfrog ahead of them into second spot.

But the DK’s missed out on a bonus point following a bruising encounter and director of rugby Neil Shillingford admitted: “The lads were a bit disappointed afterwards because they thought they’d made hard work of it.

“But this was a tough encounter between two sides who clashed in style.

“Newbold have a big chunky pack who rely on a great deal of crash ball, which meant we had to put in a real defensive shift. As a result, we fell into the trap of playing in areas where Newbold wanted to play."

However the DK always held the upper hand and built a 17-0 lead thanks to a couple of tries from Jordan Brookes and Charlie Baffour while the accurate boot of Sam Vaughan supplied a penalty and two conversions.

Newbold reduced the gap to 17-7 before half time then Brookes stretched the advantage further to 24-7 thanks to his second try which Vaughan again improved upon.

Newbold refused to lie down as they secured two tries, both from five metre scrums from where they picked up at the base of the scrum to score, one of which was converted.

DK could have prevented Newbold from picking up a bonus point, but spurned a late penalty shot when kicking for the corner instead as they attempted to obtain a bonus point of their own.

Shillingford added: “In hindsight, it wasn’t the right decision and Newbold left us backing themselves to finish above us as they believe they have the easier run-in.

“We’ve got four games remaining and we need five points from everyone of them as both Newbold and Whitchurch are breathing down our necks."

DK have an attractive diversion from league rugby when they face Bridgnorth this Friday night (7-30pm) in the North Midlands Cup Final which takes place at Stourbridge RFC.

Shillingford said: “We will go out to enjoy the occasion. There’s no pressure on us and we’ll go into the game with our strongest squad."