HEAD coach Will Croker pulled no punches after seeing Jekyll-and-Hyde Bournemouth slip to another dispiriting away defeat in National Three South West.

Lions’ winless run on the road was extended to six games after they went down 22-13 at Cleve – a team they had hammered 42-12 at Chapel Gate in October.

Their away form is in stark contrast to their record at home where they have won five on the bounce and seven out of eight in a season of mixed fortunes.

Asked whether he was any closer to finding a cure for their travel sickness, Croker said: “In truth, no. But while the stats show we are a very good side at home and not so good on the road, I don’t feel we play significantly differently.

“It’s not as if we go into our shells and clam up. I think it’s probably something within the players’ psyche that it just feels different.

“I keep trying to explain to them that’s it just an acre of grass, whether you are home or away. It’s exactly the same size and the same conditions for both teams.

“We fancy ourselves against anybody so it’s something we’ve got to rectify quickly.”

Trailing 22-13 with five minutes remaining, Lions were convinced they had closed the gap when Scott Chislett went over for a try – only for his effort to be disallowed by referee James Milliner.

Croker added: “We felt it was a perfectly legitimate try but the referee said he had crossed the dead-ball line.

“It cost us on two fronts. It denied us a losing bonus point and it would have been a really interesting finish because our tails were up at that point.

“It was frustrating but the long and the short of it was that we weren’t good enough. It was an appalling game and we just happened to be the more appalling of the two sides.

“We generated enough territory and pressure to have won but nothing which had been working well for us over the past few weeks came off.

“Our execution just wasn’t where we would have expected it to be and that was disappointing, especially off the back of such a good run of games.

“It’s not the end of the world and I don’t want to start dissecting it and trying to decide whether everything we have been doing for the past six months is completely wrong. That’s not the case and we just need to execute better, whether that’s home or away.”

Penalties from Grant Hancox reduced the arrears at 7-3 and 17-6 before an Andy Spikings try – converted by Hancox – made it 17-13.

Cleve extended their lead to nine points from a try before Chislett’s effort was controversially chalked off, a decision which took the wind out of Bournemouth’s sails.

Lions: Hancox, Jeffes, Everett-Bolter, Chislett, Roberts, Boyd, Davies, Spikings, Manning, Firetto, Treloar, Kenneally, Hennings, Bennett, Rees. Subs: Richardson, Snell, Yeats.