SOME LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL

If points were awarded for home support, Raiders would not be bottom of National Two South, which is where they left after this latest loss and unexpected wins for fellow relegation-haunted Birmingham & Solihull and London Irish Wild Geese.
All three sides now sit on either the 21 or 20-point mark with the gap to safety now a rather large 11 in our case.
But, as strange as it may seem, there is light at the end of the tunnel.
This was another performance which merited something, although Bury St E were obviously slightly the better side.
Jordan Reynolds saw plenty of pluses.
‘I thought we were in the match the majority of the time.
‘I think we had six opportunities in the first half and we only got two of them.
‘We kicked over the dead-ball line and missed a crucial line out. That really cost us,’ said the coach.

Another bumper crowd in the region of 500 packed into the Garenne Stand at Footes Lane to see Jordan Reynolds’ side push the in-form visitors all the way but, ultimately, lacked the cutting edge to secure a third win of a tough campaign.
Bury St Edmunds arrived with confidence high after a good run of wins in December and that was evident as they opened a 12-0 advantage.
Raiders got it back to 12-12 courtesy of two catch-and-drive moves finished off by hooker Tom Ceillam, but with Sam Steventon’s ‘yellow’ further punished by a third Bury St Edmunds score before the break and a fourth just after the re-start, the home side were certainly made to pay.
The vocal home crowd thought Bury St Edmunds were more than a shade fortunate to see their fifth score stand after they judged the pass which put winger Sharpe away to score and make the game all but safe at 27-12 with half an hour remaining.
Raiders kept plugging away with their star fly-half Owen Thomas shining on his long awaited return and inside the last 10 minutes Thomas produced the final pass for Elia Morisio to finish off from close range.
Thomas converted but Bury managed the remaining minutes well to take home a full set of points and keep Raiders deep in relegation trouble.
‘In the second half conceding those two quick tries really put pressure on us,’ admitted Reynolds.
But the sight of his No. 1 fly-half returning and looking strong and confident, must have surely pleased him.
‘I thought he played really well when he came on. He didn’t seem to shy away and got really stuck in.’
‘Our whole back-line performed better today, but we need to be taking our chances better when they are on offer, however even though we lost, today was a good step forward'.