COACH Craig White admitted Bournemouth had contributed to their own downfall as a lack of discipline had been a key factor in their defeat by high-flying Bracknell at Chapel Gate.

Lions were rewarded for an impressive first-half showing as they eased into a 10-0 lead at the break thanks to Sam Knott’s maiden try and a conversion and penalty from Lewis Dennett.

However, they paid a heavy price for having three players sin-binned in the second period as Bracknell battled back to score their winning try after Lions had been reduced to 13 men.

Sam Hardcastle, Connor Scott and Grant Hancox were all yellow-carded, the Lions trio failing to heed a series of first-half warnings from referee Charlie Gayther.

White told the Daily Echo: “We were disappointed because we felt Bracknell were there for the taking. We stopped playing in the second half and that is what cost us. We know we are better than that and have to carry on working hard.

“The guys played really well in the first half, it was good and disciplined rugby. But we went to pieces in the second half and let them play too much. We scrummed really well at the end and had five or six attempts on their try line but couldn’t get it over.

“It wasn’t like it was one-way traffic and we could have taken it. But they scored the winning try when we only had 13 men on the pitch and we couldn’t get back into it.

“We played the final 10 minutes like a house on fire but just couldn’t do it.

“We can have no complaints about the decisions to sin-bin the players. They were all deserved and the referee had warned us on a number of occasions. The guys can’t complain about that and we only had ourselves to blame.”

Defeat, which came on the back of four wins in five, saw Lions drop to ninth place on 41 points ahead of their trip to Weston-super-Mare-based Hornets.

White added: “We can’t fault the guys for how much they stuck to it against the team which were fourth in the league.

“We have been working on certain things and they are starting to come to fruition. We are trying to build through this season and, hopefully, look to do something next season. We are probably two or three wins from being safe and will take it from there.”

Knott marked his home debut by going over in the 20th minute with fellow former colt Dennett kicking an excellent goal to make it 7-0.

Dennett’s penalty made it 10-0 after a deliberate knock-down had prevented an almost certain score as Lions reached the break in the ascendancy.

Bracknell reduced the arrears with a penalty and made further inroads courtesy of an unconverted try. The visitors made the most of their numerical advantage to score the winning touch-down 15 minutes from time.

Lions: Hancox, Sutherland, Higgins, Chislett, Fitch, Dennett, Hardcastle, Terry, Manning, Firetto, Knott, Scott, Hennings, Renwick, Rees. Replacements: Bovett, Roberts, Benham.