Stourbridge are edged out by Hoppers

The visiting Grasshoppers headed home with the spoils on the back of a 38-32 success as Stour tasted defeat for the fifth time in six outings.

Stour, who included loan players, scrum-half Gareth Simpson and full back Mike Penn in their starting line up, fell behind on 13 minutes when Sam Stott touched down and Tom Davidson added the extras.

The hosts hit back immediately with Jack Lea taking a quick tap penalty for his ninth of the season. Rickie Aley levelled the score with his conversion.

Some weak defending from Stour then saw No.8 Matt Lamprey run half the length of the pitch to score a converted try.

Mark George made amends on 34 with Aley converting to make it 14-14.

The fifth try of the afternoon went the way of the visitors through fleet-footed winger Conor Truman with Davidson again successful with the boot.

The hosts hit back with a 43rd-minute penalty but fell further behind when Matt Crow touched down on 50 minutes.

Stour rallied, though, and a 70-metre move ended with Mark Harrison scoring and Aley converting.

Joe Heatley then crossed and another two-pointer from Aley put the hosts into the lead for the first time, 29-26.

Preston then racked up 12 points in three minutes courtesy of tries from James Gough and Tyler Spence and a Davidson conversion, to leave Stour reeling.

A red card for Stott, for a dangerous high tackle, reduced the visitors to 14 and Aley knocked over a penalty to make it 38-32.

But there was no time for a dramatic late comeback with Preston seeing out the victory.