LUCTONIANS and Hereford are looking over their shoulders following disappointing defeats in their respective leagues.

Both teams are just four points off the relegation places in National League 2 North and Midlands 1 West respectively.

After a promising start to the season, Luctonians have lost their last eight games, with their latest defeat coming at the hands of struggling Harrogate, while an inconsistent Hereford went down at Wolverhampton.

Lucs have a tough home game against Sale this Saturday before a crucial encounter against third-from-bottom Wharfedale completes the month.

Hereford also have two tough games coming up.

The Wyesiders face Bournville and Burton in their next two games before hosting second-from-bottom Crewe & Nantwich.

It was a familiar tale for Luctonians at Harrogate, with the Kingsland side out manoeuvring their opponents for large periods of the game.

But defensive lapses again cost them, ensuring the Yorkshire side ran out 26-24 winners.

Luctonians flew out of the blocks and opened the scoring with a Louis Silver penalty in the fourth minute.

But Harrogate hit back straight away and found a defensive weakness to score a try through Keane Naylor, converted by Samuel Fox.

By this stage, the home side were beginning to get on top at scrum time and opted for a scrum again with a penalty awarded just five metes from the Luctonians line.

But the choice proved fruitless because the referee penalised their loosehead, allowing Lucs to build momentum with consecutive penalties.

These resulted in decent territorial gains and resulted in Joy Doyle going over for a try; Silver converting.

However, Harrogate managed to go into the break in the lead when Connor Ward went over for a try following a counter- attack.

Henry Monkley restored Lucs’ lead with a try five minutes after the break; Silver again converting, but more defensive mistakes crept in.

That led to Guy Cosler and Oli Rosillo scoring tries, both converted by Fox.

Lucs threatened a comeback when Silver converted Tom Dodd’s try, but Harrogate held on for the win.

Hereford, meanwhile, went down 17-10 to Wolverhampton.

The Wyesiders worked hard and probably deserved something from the game, but three basic mistakes led to Wolverhampton’s tries and the home defence proved difficult to break down.

“This was not the performance we needed and was completely different to the previous game,” said Hereford player coach Luke Fisher.

“The boys did not come out of the box firing and we have a number of things to iron out in training.

“But there were good things to take from this defeat.

“The ball retention was good and the pack provided a good platform.

“The structures are coming into play, our attack is coming together and the centre partnership of Tom Ewins and Perry Pudge is getting back to top form.”

Both sides had a player sent off – Brad Talbot seeing red for Hereford – with Perry Pudge converting Nathan Pudge’s try for the Wyesiders.