LYDNEY head coach Lee Fortey blasted his side’s first-half performance against Thornbury as ‘an embarrassment’ before they turned it around in the second-half.

Even so, the Severnsiders still went down to a South West One West defeat by 40-32.

Lydney found themselves 35-10 down at half-time with only a Tony Wicks penalty and a pack-powered try in response to Thornbury’s scoring efforts.

But after the break, Costner Lane, Josh Dunn, Rob White and Henry Sleeman all touched down to take their team close to pulling off a stunning fightback victory.

Fortey said that he was pleased to see improvement from the issues that caused defeat at Keynsham the week before and added he felt Lydney could have taken victory in the dying embers of the match.

But he said that this weekend’s derby with South West One West rivals Newent at Regentsholme has become even more crucial after seeing his side open the new campaign with two defeats on the road.

The hotly-anticipated fixture takes on extra significance with Newent also beginning the South West One West season with back-to-back losses.

“The first-half was just an embarrassment with missed tackles and poor defensive lines,” Fortey said.