ROBERT Elford was left to rue some controversial refereeing decisions and a rare Phil Graves sin-binning as Swanage and Wareham went down 25-18 at Cheltenham.

The loss leaves the Purbeckers beached mid-table in South West Two East with little or no chance of promotion.

Swans scored tries through James Spensley, Dafydd Wright and Olly Andrews with Graves adding a penalty, and they led 8-0 at one stage.

But Graves’s enforced 10-minute spell on the sidelines for an alleged infringement handicapped the Bestwall boys as Cheltenham hit back to triumph.

Elford said: “We got in front early with a penalty and a try and it was going pretty well.

“It’s a desperate place to go, Cheltenham, and we were unfortunate with a sin-binning when we thought the ref saw something we didn’t.

“We felt a bit hard done by that it was 8-8 at half time and we weren’t ahead, but we made two simple mistakes in the first five minutes of the second half when they scored two tries.

“We had three tries disallowed, two grounded the ref said he didn’t see and a third for what he felt was a forward pass.

“It’s a difficult job refereeing. We all have different opinions and the ref’s was different to ours.

“The performance was good enough to get the win. It was a few decisions and five minutes after half time when we fell asleep.

“It was disappointing we didn’t the get result because on another day we felt we would have got the win.”

The game was held up for 30 minutes after Swans second row Ryan Cottrell sustained a neck injury when they trailed 25-13.

He received treatment in hospital, but Elford said: “I’ve spoken to Ryan and he said he’s okay now. He’s on the road to recovery.”

Swanage and Wareham: Spensley (Leak 54), Rowberry, Graves, M Cottrell, Parish, Harris, Davis, Andrews, R Elford, Sheldrake, Burgess, R Cottrell (Woodard 54), Wright, Tomes (Warren 55), Lewis.