Douglas meet their Waterloo

Vagabonds early pain continues

Douglas suffered their first defeat in North 1 West when they lost 39-23 away at Firwood Waterloo.

After going 8-0 behind in the first five minutes, Douglas battled back with a try from Adam Boyd and two penalties from Bryn Snellgrove.

Trailing 15-11 at half-time, the wheels came off the Douglas wagon early in the second period when Carl Murray was red carded for what was adjudged a lifting tackle and Waterloo ran way with the game.

Two late tries from Nick Brooker, plus a conversion from Snellgrove, brought Douglas to within a sniff of a try bonus point but was not quite enough.

Vagabonds lost 90-5 away at Port Sunlight in South Lancashire/Cheshire Division Two with their only score coming from speed man Chris Bass.

However, coach Michael Oates is upbeat despite two early big losses.

He said: ‘The squad is young and training numbers are good. This weekend we had 16 players unable to travel for a variety of reasons and we’ll just have to play the hand we’ve been dealt.

‘We have targeted a couple of upcoming home games and we’ll continue to build our season bit by bit and I’m cautiously optimistic.’