BOURNEMOUTH director of rugby David Dunn was left to count the cost of his side’s 22-18 defeat to Redingensians as Lions’ title tilt took a turn for the worse.

The third-placed visitors ran in three tries without reply as the home side relied on the trusty boot of Dan Pollard, who scored six from six penalties, to keep them in contention.

However, Pollard’s efforts were to no avail on a frustrating afternoon that saw prop forward Riad Lynch ruled out for the rest of the season with ligament damage that will require surgery.

Dunn blasted both referee Carl Bennett and the performance of his players, but his post-match thoughts were understandably with Lynch.

“Riad’s injury does not look good – it was a great shame to see him get injured in the way that he did and I hope he recovers very soon.

“It was a key moment in the game because we had to make a key change in the scrummage and it resulted in a try for the opposition. But, after that, I thought it added to our resolve.

“I said to the players that if we had played the whole 80 minutes like we did the last 20, we would have won the match by 20 points. It was a shame that it took an injury to Riad to sting us into action.”

Dunn added: “I was disappointed that, under pressure, the players didn’t get the basics right.

“I can’t question the commitment, but, in the first half, when we had the elements behind us, we didn’t make the most of them.

“Key decisions also went against us and the opposition were quite cynical in trying to stop us playing.

“They gave away 16 penalties and that is not acceptable in a game at this level.

“The referees have got to get on top of the game and there have got to be further sanctions.

“It took the referee 60 minutes to put anyone in the sin-bin and, in my view, it should have happened after 20 minutes when one player was penalised five times in the scrum.”

Dunn also pointed to the absence of key personnel for the defeat, but insisted that Lions’ promotion dream was still alive despite the setback.

The champions of National Three South West go up automatically, with the runners-up facing a play-off against the runners-up from the South East Division – the stage that Bournemouth faltered at last season.

Dunn said: “I am very confident we will be in the top two, which is why I’m not too worried about this defeat. The game against leaders Chinnor is the make-or-break game.

“If we win that game in any capacity, we will finish in the top two positions and promotion will be very much in our own hands, so we have to take great solace from that.”

Lions: Searle, Stewart, Edwards, Bruce, Flynn, Pollard, Hardcastle, R Lynch (Burns, 46), Cawley (Wilford, 54), Manning, Seward (Hughes, 50), Forrest, Hennings (Cawley, 64), Dunkerley, Hart.