HAPPY new year? Perhaps not.

An unplayable first-team pitch, touchline skirmishes and a sucker punch in the 11th minute of added time – hardly the way patched-up Bournemouth wanted to kick off 2016.

Lions were so close to claiming their fourth away victory of the season in National Three South West against Old Redcliffians at Scotland Lane.

The fact they did so without the services of full-back Alex Sutherland, right-wing Ben Stewart, hooker Ben Allman, lock Matt Warwick and captain Joes Rees made the manner of their dispiriting setback all-the-more intolerable with head coach Will Croker admitting his players would “take some picking up at training” this week.

In difficult conditions, Bournemouth tried in vain to grab a foothold in the game before conceding a penalty with 10 minutes on the clock.

Bursts of pace were few and far between on the stodgy surface but Alex Everett-Bolter’s marauding charge opened the away side’s account when he touched down in the corner. Grant Hancox was inches wide with the subsequent conversion.

A high tackle handed Old Reds the chance to nudge back in front with their second penalty of the afternoon but newcomer Sam Morton, whose misunderstanding had led to the kick, atoned for his error when his surge forward was unfairly halted. Hancox kicked with ease from 10 metres for three points.

Hancox’s 30-metre effort made it 11-6 at the interval with the hosts missing the opportunity to redress with balance seconds before the whistle.

A series of penalties at the start of the second half allowed Hancox to extend to eight points Bournemouth’s advantage but Old Reds battled back and were denied a try by the alert Scott Chislett.

However, a clever cross-field kick found right-wing Henry Bird to dive over and a well-executed conversion reduced to one the arrears with 20 minutes to play.

Bournemouth were under siege towards the end and when they did relieve the pressure might have kicked for goal. The line-out option saw the ball go dead and from the scrum, Old Reds attacked with purpose down the left with a swivel kick back across field finding Christian Gervais to score more than 10 minutes into overtime.

Croker confirmed he had questioned referee Simon Lane over the number of additional minutes.

“We tried to speak to the official after the game but he refused to comment,” he said.

“It was a little bit frustrating because there were no serious injuries and the boys worked extremely to get themselves into the lead.

“We had a couple of missed kicks in the first half but stuck at it and managed to get to 14-6. Everybody thought that would be okay, we got to the final minute and saw that out.

"They had five or six scrums and all sorts. For the last three or four minutes, they were playing like Fiji, just chucking it out from the back, doing whatever they could and got a lucky break.

"A couple of 50-50 offloads went to hands and they managed to wear us down after about 15 phases.

“The conditions were horrific and we were surprised the game was on. It was very squelchy under foot and by the end you could hardly tell which team was which. It was never going to be a classic, the ball just stuck round the halfway line with neither team able to get any flow or consistency.

“We should have won and in an 80-minute match we did but you have to see it through until the man in the middle blows.

“We were frustrated because we should have beaten Old Reds at our place. We missed the kicks at goal that should have won it so we went up there knowing we could beat them.

“They are a decent side and especially if this weather carries on, there won’t be many teams that go there and take points off them but to get that close was hard to take. The boys will take some picking up at training on Tuesday night."

And that was not the only matter Croker was unhappy with.

“There was a spat between their players and our touch judge (Gavin Fisher) where they said some less-than-encouraging things and effectively, one of them called him a cheat," he added.

“It all kicked off and one of them grabbed him, which we thought was sufficient for the player in question to be sent off. It was all very disappointing.”

Crucially, the late swing denied sixth-placed Bournemouth the chance to move within six points of leaders Lydney at the top of a congested battle for promotion.

Only the champion club goes up with the runners-up qualifying for a one-off play-off against their counterparts from the South East division but Croker insists this latest away-day setback has not ended their dream of a return to National Two South.

“For us, we have always said we chase the performance rather than the win,” said Croker.

“If we play as well as we can week after week then we believe we can beat any team in this league. There are a lot of good teams that still have to play each other yet and we know there will be some surprises along the way.

“It would probably help us if one of the teams ran away and beat everybody. I wouldn’t say it’s over by any stretch, it is still early in January and all we can focus on is being as good as we can be every Saturday and see where that takes us.

“To win it is a tough ask from this position. It’s not beyond us, we have a lot of good players to come in and bolster the ranks at a time when other clubs are going to be fatigued and picking up injuries.

“We are excited about it and if we can get together a run of five or six wins on the bounce, which is definitely within the realms of possibility when you look at the fixtures, all of a sudden that applies the pressure on the teams at the top and gets them thinking.”