SWANAGE and Wareham skipper Rob Elford is hopeful his side's first defeat of the campaign "shouldn't affect" their progress.

Swans were on the wrong end of a 26-18 scoreline on Saturday at Marlow, which ruined their perfect South West Two record, having won all of their previous six games.

Elford admitted his team did not perform as they would have liked en route to losing in Berkshire.

He said: "It was going to come but it wasn't the best result and not what we'd hoped for obviously. We didn't play as well as we could have, but all credit to Marlow, they made life very difficult for us.

"We had opportunities, certainly in the first half of the second half, and had we turned that into points it would've been different."

Elford felt Marlow's confidence grew the longer the game went on with them still in the running.

"We didn't play well and are not particularly happy but you've got to give credit to them," he said. "As I said last week it's always a difficult place to go."

Number eight Maurice Elford crossed for a first-half try but Swans trailed 13-11 at the interval.

Winger Charlie Parish helped Swans regain the lead with a converted score but two late tries left the high-fliers empty-handed.

Swans: Leak (Chadwick 63), Andrews, Grove, Graves, Parish, Harris, Beaves, Andrews, R Elford, Jones (Sheldrake 44), Burgess, Penney, Harwood (Warren 47), Steeden, M Elford.

  • Swanage and Wareham's annual club dinner takes place on November 17. Tickets cost 20 each. To book a place call Dave Bonning on 07974 222503 or Brian Marshall on 01929 556614.
  • Former Bournemouth star Ben Williams has been named in the Bath squad ahead of their Guinness Premiership clash against Sale Sharks on Friday (7.45pm).

If the former Lions centre makes his senior debut, he could come face-to-face with the likes of French second row Sebastien Chabal and England prop Andrew Sheridan.