Southwold suffered a narrow defeat in a disappointing encounter that was spoilt by a constant flow of penalties awarded against both teams.

Even the final, decisive score was a penalty try which summed up the stop-start nature of the game.

The fixture was not 10 minutes old when a high ball was challenged for in the air by both the defending Ferrers and the attacking Wold full backs but Sammy Harmer was yellow carded and Wold were a man short.

The decision was to prove decisive as a few minutes later Ferrers stretched the Wold backs with a long pass missing out the outside centre and the winger ran round the end of the line to score under the posts unopposed.

Ferrers were seven points to the good and the game stopped and started repeatedly for the rest of the first half with little further excitement as the hard ground took its toll, with injuries to both sides.

However, in the last 30 seconds of the half Wold had a scrum five metres out and pushed Ferrers back before two drives from the back row saw Jonny Mayall force his way over for a try before Luke Wade levelled the scores at 7-7 with the conversion.

The second half continued in the same vein as the whistle continued to dominate.

Wade did give Wold a three-point lead from one of the many penalties which sailed over from the halfway line. Several times Wold were within five metres of the line but each time they were stopped by the whistle and Ferrers cleared to touch.

The hosts were rightly awarded a penalty themselves on the halfway line with 10 minutes to go following a yellow card for prop Adam Smith for a high tackle and he was to play no further part in the game.

Ferrers kicked down to the corner, won the lineout ball and put pressure on the Wold defence wide on the right and were then awarded a penalty try for an offside offence and the automatic seven points followed to give the final score line of 14-10.

Wold spent the last five or six minutes camped in the Ferrers 22 but to no avail as they were edged out in a hugely frustrating game.