WILL Croker warned Bournemouth's South West Premier rivals that his team had yet to unleash their full attacking arsenal – after edging out Bracknell on Saturday.

The head coach watched on as Lions took a 17-3 lead into the break at Chapel Gate, only to be pegged back to 20-20.

However, Grant Hancox nailed a tough penalty with several minutes to play and the hosts had a huge stroke of luck when visiting fly-half Vic Hardwicke failed to slot a penalty with the last kick of the game.

The 23-20 success was Bournemouth's first win of the season following an opening-day loss to promoted Newbury.

And while pleased to get a victory on the board, Croker admitted the game should have been effectively over sooner than transpired.

He told the Daily Echo: "It was a strange game because our defence, which had been suspect against Newbury, was a lot tighter but our attack was never quite fluid enough to kill them off and it should have been, to be honest.

"It's a really strange dynamic in that heading into the season there have been lots of changes behind the scenes and although on the pitch we have the same faces, we haven't quite clicked in attack yet.

"It was a good performance without blowing them away. It was definitely a step up from Newbury but still not the complete performance.

"However, this time last season we had one point having lost to Salisbury and Bracknell and this season we've got five, so we'll take that."

Full-back Hancox gave Lions an early lead with a penalty after Bracknell openside Tom Scott pulled down a maul in an attempt to prevent a score.

With Scott sin-binned, the hosts took further advantage. Ali Bennett broke clear and found the supporting Sam Hardcastle, who picked out Dan Stewart and the winger outpaced two covering defenders to crash over in the corner.

Hancox's conversion found its target via the post and Lions led 10-0 with a quarter of an hour played.

Hardwicke replied with a penalty but after Jack Hennings broke from a scrum, a well-judged pass allowed Wyn Roberts to scamper in and touch down. Hancox added the extras.

After the restart, Ali Bennett missed the gather to gather a kick ahead and Ben Sanderson countered, allowing Bracknell to eventually cross the whitewash with Hardwicke adding two more points.

A Hardwicke penalty reduced further the arrears but Lions led by seven thanks to Hancox's effort from the tee.

Bracknell gave themselves fresh hope when they drove over in the corner and Hardwicke's excellent goal made it a level contest.

But Hancox came up with a terrific penalty from a tricky angle and Hardwicke's nervy late miss ensured Lions held out.

Croker added: "I actually felt for their fly-half a bit. He took so long to line it up that I said to Sanch (coach Jon Sanchez): 'He's going to pull this'.

"It was a lovely strike, the sound it made was perfect, but it went wide right and you just knew it was going to happen."

Lions: Hancox, Stewart, Everett-Bolter, Chislett, Roberts, Davies, Hardcastle, Hughes, Wilford, Manning, Roberts, Hennings, Sharp, Bennett, Rees. Replacements: McDonald, Spiller, Sutherland.