Barking's Tom Yellowlees

National Two South: Lydney 34 Barking 10

Barking’s director of rugby Dean Cutting felt a 20-minute spell cost them dearly as they opened their National Two South campaign with defeat in Gloucestershire on Saturday.

Against a side coached by former England and Bath prop Duncan Bell, stand-in skipper Tom Yellowlees saw his team concede soft tries inside that spell at the beginning of the second period which ultimately saw them return home pointless.

But Cutting was still pleased with various aspects of Barking’s play.

“Going to Lydney was always going to be a tough start and to get anything from it would have been a great result,” he said.

“We had a fair share of possession but in a 20-minute spell we conceded some soft tries.

“But I feel we started strongly and many a side would have given up but that never-say- die spirit was there and we kept fighting until the end. We could have capitulated but it was good to get the final score.”

The Goresbrook outfit fell behind inside five minutes when Curtis Russell started a four-man attack and Chris Holder found Alex Hall to touch down under the posts.

It went from bad to worse for Barking when Doyin Layade was sin-binned for hands in at the scrum, though they were able to hold out for the 10 minutes where they were numerically disadvantaged.

But Cutting’s side had two opportunities with the boot to get themselves back in the match after the home side conceded two penalties but Oliver Forrest was unable to convert either opportunity.

However, Lydney pushed themselves back into the ascendancy on 33 minutes when Russell managed to find a gap in the Barking defence before finding Matt Taylor in support who laid on Josh Innes to cross the try line.

Russell added the extras to send Barking into the interval 14-0 down and that was extended three minutes after the break when Innes scored his second try of the afternoon after Russell once more exploited the visitors’ defence.

From the next attack the hosts added more misery on Barking when they picked up a loose ball in midfield by offloading to Hall who paced in from the 10-metre line.

Barking got themselves on the scoreboard with a Forrest penalty, though the hosts extended their lead once more when the ball emerged from a driving maul and some fluent passing saw Charlie Daniel over in the corner.

As the half wore on Cutting’s side began to come into the game and began to take more prominent positions in Lydney’s territory, ending the game with the final score.

James Fouracre’s crossfield kick exposed Holder and replacement Andy Ibberson was able to touch down.

Barking: Woollard, Foster, Lowe, Mead, Baffour-Awuah, Forrest, Fouracre, Jones, F Ambrose, R Turner, G Kersey, D Kersey, Layade, Yellowlees, Sinfield. Replacements: Ibberson, Bowles, S Turner, Peasnall, Anderson.