OLD Halesonians suffered their second defeat of the season when being edged out by Sutton Coldfield.

Hales lost 29-28 away from home after reduced to 12 players at one point last Saturday.

During the game Steven Powell was given a red card, with a further three yellow cards given to Old Hales and one for Sutton.

Old Hales battled, ran and covered the pitch well in the last 15 minutes with 12 and 13 players. They showed great heart, energy and stubbornness to leave with a much deserved two points out of what was a difficult afternoon.

This week Old Hales are back at home against Whitchurch for what will be a huge challenge as fourth play sixth in Midlands One West with only two points separating the sides.

“I was so pleased with the lads today." said head of coaching Matt Williams. "We worked hard all week on improving our accuracy in the attacking 22 and I am really happy with the improvements in that area.

"The effort shown when we were tested and went down to 12 was amazing. Congrats to Sutton for taking their opportunities and for getting the result. We will take lots of the positives from today and build on them this week going into Saturday and hope to get a different referee."