Ivybridge's woes continued as they made it ten defeats in a row against North Petherton, who went top of the table with this win.

The Greens are still eight points above the drop zone as things stand, but the game against St Ives tomorrow, now assumes massive importance.

St Ives have a game in hand over Ivy, and should they win that with a bonus point, the gap would be cut to as little as three points.

These are worrying times, and Ivy will be desperate to avoid being relegated twice in two seasons. The fact that bottom-placed Tiverton won this weekend makes things even more difficult.

That said, there are definitely reasons for optimism after the performance against a strong Petherton side.

It is worth remembering that the Greens took the lead through an Adam Bradley penalty on five minutes and managed to hold on to it until well into the second. It was only a disastrous five minutes mid-way through the second period, in what could kindly be described as inclement weather conditions, that took the game away from them.

It started on 55 minutes with Ivy conceding the penalty that levelled the scores. This was swiftly followed by Pethy's Matt Ransome crashing over from a five-metre scrum, converted by Roberts, to condemn Ivy to another defeat .

It is certainly is all hands to the pump for Saturday's fixture.