PHIL Graves has conceded that Swanage and Wareham's promotion hopes have disappeared following their 13-6 defeat at Henley Wanderers.

The Bestwall boys led 6-5 in a tight contest at Henley with only 11 minutes to go of their South West Division Two East clash.

But fly half Robert Dudding slotted over a penalty to ease Henley 8-6 in front.

And just after second row David Burgess had gone close to touching down for Swans, Henley got an injury time try to finally put the game out of the Dorset side's reach.

Defeat, coupled with a two-point deduction for inadvertently fielding Richard Gordon in one game when he was not registered, has left the Purbeckers six points behind table topping Bournemouth.

They are also five adrift of Salisbury and Redingensians.

Graves, who had kicked two penalties, said: "I would say we are out of the play-off race now.

"We only had a slim chance before but now it has gone because the teams above us all need to lose three games for us to catch them and that is unlikely to happen.

"We'll just carry on plugging away to the end of the season, though, concentrate on winning against Bournemouth on Saturday, get back to normal and finish the season on a high."

Graves added: "We led Henley 6-5 for a while but we suffered a couple of injuries in the first half that unsettled the side a little bit.

"Scrum-half Michael McKeown (shoulder) and John Gephaert (calf) had to go off at half time and with the changes it made it very hard.

"Henley probably deserved to win because we made too many mistakes. They just harried everything and they were very good at keeping the ball.

"You are not going to score a lot of points against them, especially at their place and I can see how they beat Salisbury the previous week."

Talking about the two-point deduction, Graves said: "Richard played for us for about 15 years and then he didn't sign last season because we had so many players.

"I'm not sure what happened this season but it was only after he'd played that we realised he hadn't signed.

"It's a pity about the two points but we just have to take it on the chin."

LINE-UP

Swanage and Wareham: Leak, Barton, P Graves, Grove, Gephaert, Harris, McKeown, Andrews, R Elford, Rance, Hayman, Burgess, Steeden, Warren, M Elford. Subs: Booth, McMinn, McKay.