STOURBRIDGE director of rugby Neil Mitchell says he was pleased with his team's performance against league leaders Hull Ionians.

Stour lost last Saturday's contest 42-21 at Stourton Park despite a spirited performance as they looked to avenge their 50 point defeat at Brantingham Park earlier in the season.

Mitchell said: "I was really pleased with how the players performed as a whole. They did really well and for the most part there was parity between the sides.

"The scrum ended up being key and it was the only real area that let us down.

"We didn't get the rub of the green in that area and got penalised even after we made a change at prop.

"We conceded three tries because of the scrum. If it hadn't been for that I think the game would have been even closer."

Ultimately, Stour once again ran out of steam as the contest drew to a close.

It is an issue Mitchell is determined to resolve for next season.

"Fitness has been a feature of the season as a whole," he said. "We may have numbers back in the squad but our match fitness is still short.

"We were hit by injuries before Christmas and have never really caught up. We are addressing that issue.

"Next season we have plans in place to train with the Lions. This will increase numbers and add some intensity to the sessions."

Stourbridge will travel to take on Chester this Saturday in their penultimate game of the season.

"We now need to build on the Ionians performance and use it to end well," added Mitchell. "There were a lot of positives to take forwards."

"We have two games left and we will be looking to win them both."

The game started in dramatic style as Ionians were gifted a fourth minute try after outside centre Chris Reeks was presented with a gap to run in under the posts for fly half James Ferguson to convert.

Clearly stung, Stour required a response and pegged Ionians back into their own half, where unrelenting pressure was rewarded with a string of penalties.

Caolan Ryan missed his first two shots, but the Moseley loanee fly half then booted over three penalties in quick succession to put Stour 9-7 ahead by the half hour mark.

A push-over try gave Hull a 14-9 lead at the break.

The visitors increased the gap within five minutes of resumption when their Argentinian flanker Socino Santiago wrestled his way over from a spell of sustained pressure, Ferguson duly adding the extras.

Stour hit back on 62 minutes when a splendid offload from Stefan Shillingford sucked in the Ionians defence and sent Gary Dipple scampering over for a try which Ryan converted.

Ionians stamped their authority on the game from that point on.

Left wing Sam Wilson waltzed through a series of half hearted tackles to secure a fourth and bonus point try on 66 minutes which Ferguson improved.

Then a dreadful error by Stour's Stefan Cooksammy gifted Ionians a five metre scrum instead of a home 22 drop-out after Cooksammy brought the ball back into play before dotting it down.

The outcome was inevitable since Stour had been shoved backwards at every scrummage.

Referee Tom Davis didn't wait long once Stour went into reverse, awarding a penalty try for Ferguson to convert.

Stour improved their tally before the end as replacement Ashley Oyekan found himself in space down the left flank and outpaced the Ionians cover to sprint over in the corner for a well taken try.