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CHIN UP: Beaten Droitwich are clapped off by Stoke-on-Trent.

DAN Protherough has backed his Droitwich RFC side to claim the Midlands Division Three West (South) title next season, after their heartbreaking 18-3 promotion play-off defeat to Stoke-on-Trent.

The Spa side fell agonisingly short of winning a spot in Midlands Division Two West in Saturday's clash at the Glyn Mitchell Memorial Ground.

The fact that they had only lost two league games since September made it all the more disappointing for Protherough's men.

Despite narrowly missing out on back-to-back promotions, the head coach believes the defeat should not detract from a successful season, and has challenged his players to bounce back next season.

Protherough said: "Hopefully we won't have to be in this position in the play-off, and we will try and win it outright.

"It is a tough old league and it will be tough next year with Old Halesonians coming into it, so we will have to give it our best shot.

"We lost two games in September and after that we haven't lost a game in the league, so the first month of the season proved crucial.

"We didn't train as well in the summer as we did last year and the year before.

"It showed and it took us a month to get into the season, we lost two games and after that we did well.

"We need to look at strengthening our squad a little bit and bring some youngsters in.

"We want to build the club on younger players and if we do it that way then the future is bright for the club.

"We froze a bit on the day, but it shouldn't take away from what has been a very successful season and we have just got to look forward to next season now."

The visitors forced Droitwich into a number of costly errors, particularly for the winning try, when Peter White was able to gather a loose ball and score under the posts.

And Protherough admitted his side weren't good enough on the day.

He added: "We didn't as a team necessarily show up.

"It was a costly try in the second-half just as we were starting to get our tails up a little bit.

"It knocked us back then we conceded a penalty straight after to put us 15 points down.

"They defended really well and I don't think you can take anything away from Stoke.

"They were a good side, they thoroughly deserved to win on the day and I wish them all the best for next year."

9:07am Wednesday 30th April 2008

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