BIRMINGHAM and Solihull Bees surrendered a half-time lead in a narrow 12-10 defeat at home to Walsall II.
The Bees scored all of their points in the first half as Deaglan O’Brien and Alistair Cook both crossed for unconverted tries at Portway.
And the result means Solihull sit fifth in the Counties 2 Midlands West (East) table.
Bees were missing a number of first team players with PJ Hatch, Calum Antonio, James Bowater, Ollie Nesbit and Lewis Edwards all unavailable with no recognised place kicker in the squad.
Walsall edged into a six-point lead with two early penalties with neither side able to find any rhythm in the opening 20 minutes.
However, Solihull responded with the game’s first try as O’Brien touched down on 25 minutes before Cook struck again soon after with both conversions missed to send the Bees into the break with a four-point lead.
The second half proved a similarly scrappy affair as Walsall reclaimed the lead with two penalties in the space of five minutes to punish Bees for their ill-discipline.
And Bees also missed several kicks at goal which ultimately proved costly as the Solihull club slipped to their third home defeat of the season.
Birmingham and Solihull Bees are next in action away at Claverdon on Saturday, January 27 with kick-off at 2.15pm at Ossetts Hole Lane.
