WADEBRIDGE Camels head coach Mike Rawlings was full of praise for his players, despite a third successive home defeat, to a Kingsbridge side who moved to the top of the Western Counties West table.
The loss amazingly dropped Camels to second from bottom of the division – but three points off fifth, with only three points covering an incredible eight teams.
Rawlings said: "The boys played brilliantly well, and I still don't know how the scoreline went against us.
"I thought we were the better side and most likely deserved the win.
"Everyone has been putting great effort in at training in the last couple of weeks, but we are just lacking that winning confidence really.
Pressure
"We are going out and performing, and our defence was brilliant on Saturday, and our attack was good as well between the 22-metre areas, but it seems like, every time we get into the opposition 22, we are putting so much pressure on ourselves to come away with points that we are making errors, and too many basic skills inside the 22 in key areas are letting us down.
"We hit all our line-outs in our 22, but we had four penalties we kicked to touch inside their 22, and we missed all four line-outs throws from five to 15 metres out, and when you do that you are going to struggle to come away with the right result.
"We were only eight points down playing into the wind in the first half, and we used the wind very well in the second half.
"We just need one or two wins now and we will find our confidence."
Talking about their league position, Rawlings said: "The league is absolutely ridiculous this year, and if we had won our last two games, we would be sitting third or fourth at the moment, and looking at possible promotion going into Christmas.
"We are missing players like Matt Ballard, Gary Gynn and Dan Lumb, and if we can get one or two wins before Christmas and get ourselves out of that bottom section, I do believe that in the new year, if everybody is fit again, we should be able to put a very strong team out and come away with some ridiculous wins."
With the wind behind them in the first half, Kingsbridge went 8-0 up after only five minutes.
A first-minute penalty by inside centre Ashley Treeby was added to by a pushover try from No8 Jack Cope, which Treeby failed to convert. The Kings extended their lead ten minutes into the second period with a close-range try by prop Mike Powell, before Wadebridge hit back just past the midway point in the half with a try from winger Joe Pretty after a crossfield kick by fly half James Grubb, but they did not score again.
Camels face a tough match on Saturday with a trip to second-placed Okehampton.
Wadebridge: Pengelly, Pretty, Collings, Thomas, D Hawkey, James Grubb, Humphrey (capt), S Chapman, M Tarby, Treleaven, Scott, Dawe, Bright, Blackmore, M Grubb. Replacements: Blemings, Evans, Cullis.
Wadebridge: Try: Pretty. Kingsbridge: Tries: Cope, Powell; Pen: Treeby.