Tadley rugby team lost out to high-flying south Oxford-shire side Grove by a single point at home on Saturday.
The 15-16 loss puts the South West Division, Southern Counties North outfit at ninth in the 11-squad league after nine games and two wins.
Grove, looking for promotion, move up to third in the league.
The match lacked imagination and a dismal Grove nearly gifted the chance for Tadley to scupper their promotion hopes.
Tadley’s prime tactic seemed to involve feeding the ball to Chris Dennison at fly-half, who was able to punt the ball downfield. They earned two tries and a penalty conversion during the 80-minute encounter.
But hopes of three points were dashed when Grove ran in a single try in the first half.
And the trusty boot of their fly-half, Dave Maryon, bagged the visitors three penalties, with the final one coming seconds before the game was out.
Tadley face Wootton Bassett away on December 3.
