COACH Blair Hunter says the treacherous conditions at the Glyn Mitchell Memorial Ground prevented Droitwich from winning their clash against basement side Kidderminster Carolians more comfortably last weekend.
The Monners were 10-7 victors in the Midlands One West fixture, putting an end to their run of four successive defeats stretching back to mid-December.
Josh Skinner scored their only try while Nat Maginnis added the subsequent conversion and also kicked a penalty.
Hunter felt his Droitwich’s performance merited a more straightforward victory against the league’s whipping boys.
“It if had been dry, we probably would have won that game by 20 or 25 points,” he said.
“The pitch was a great leveller for both sides, but they’ve vastly improved from our [43-19] win earlier in the season.
“It was a local derby, they’re bottom but they played to their maximum potential and made it a bit nip and tuck for us at times.
“Our scrummage was pretty good, the line-outs were decent. They scored first after some interceptions to take the lead against the run of play.
“We turned things around and looked like the Droitwich of old, picking and driving until we went under the posts. It was a fairly dour game because of the conditions but full credit to Kidderminster.”
The Droitwich coach, who assists Worcester Warriors and Monners director of rugby Ryan Bower on the sidelines, admits it will be a difficult task in the fixtures that lie ahead.
Fourth-bottom Droitwich take a break this weekend and return to action with a trip to second-placed Lichfield next Saturday (February 1).
Hunter is, however, confident the club will steer well clear of the relegation zone and make their home turf a fortress.
“In all honesty there are probably only four or five winnable games left this season,” he said.
“Midlands One West is a very, very difficult league, and anyone who says differently is wrong. We’re only got a very small squad, so having four of five injuries really impacts us.
“Any home games that we play will be extremely competitive and we’ll be capable of winning any of our remaining fixtures there. So I think we’ll go clear of the relegation places.
“Looking ahead, Newbold and Stoke will probably be too tough for us, but we’ll probably beat the likes of Old Halesonians and Whitchurch at home.
“If you look at our results we’ve only lost six matches by less than seven points and should have won against the likes of Hereford [a 20-17 loss].”
