NORTHWICH’S struggles in Midlands One West continued as they slipped further into the relegation zone following a 18-9 home defeat to sixth-placed Hereford at Moss Farm.

Blacks have not won a game since October 20 and they will need to recover quickly from their slump in form if they are to hold any chance of fighting their way out of the bottom two, starting with a trip to fifth-placed Whitchurch a week on Saturday.

Northwich were pleased to welcome Gareth Davies back to the fold as well as new recruit Henry Bellis, both joining from Lymm, and with the return of Ryan McKibbin following an injury the almost full strength hosts were full of optimism.

But they knew they were in for a tough game from the off as Hereford ripped in from the first whistle, pinning Northwich back and forcing them to defend strongly in order to keep them scoreless in the opening exchanges.

Blacks were the first to draw blood, catching Hereford offside and Chris Dutoy converting the penalty to take the lead after six minutes, but Hereford were soon causing more problems than the hosts could handle.

Six minutes later they wrestled the lead away from the Blacks, stretching the home defence with some fine passing to send their winger in at the corner for an unconverted try.

The second half began with the game still finely poised, with both sides in a position to kick on for victory.

An exchange of penalties in the first five minutes of the half kept the scoreboard ticking over, with Hereford stroking a kick over to extend their lead to five before Dutoy responded with one of his own to restore the two-point margin.

The stalemate resumed until the 55th minute, when Hereford’s strong pack was on hand to drive the ball over the line for a pushover try to take the game further away from the increasingly frustrated Blacks.

The next 10 minutes saw Northwich try everything they could to get back on terms, with Sam Naylor and Ryan McKibbin at the forefront of the assault.

But Hereford’s defence proved to be too well organised to allow any breaches, although Dutoy made the most of an offside call to kick a long-range penalty to leave the hosts trailing by six points.

Not content with the losing bonus point Northwich pushed forwards for a try, only to get caught offside to allow the Hereford kicker a chance to complete the scoring and secure yet another Northwich defeat.

Northwich Murray, Dodd, Szabo, Smith, Last, Naylor, Crozier, McKibbin, Davies, Underhill, Naidu, Chubb, Bellis, Gavin, Dutoy, Heath, Houghton, Farley. Pens Dutoy