By David Haigh

Saturday's 28-11 defeat at home to Bury St Edmunds was Canterbury's third consecutive loss and they could easily be drawn into the National 2 East relegation battle.

The four sides beneath them all have a game in hand and on this poor showing the city side will find it hard to come up with the victory that could make them safe. A lack of finishing firepower once again contributed to their downfall as they failed to turn first-half dominance into a meaningful lead.

They were ahead by four points at the break but discipline and accuracy deserted them in the second half and Bury strolled home, adding three further tries to their first-half opener. That came after Canterbury exerted all the early pressure but had nothing to show for it.

In the 15th minute, Bury's half break made space for Mike Stanway and full-back Charlie Reed, who never missed from the tee all afternoon, converted the try.

Canterbury, despite repeated errors, found a reply with a catch-and-drive score by Nathan Morris but the only other points came from the boot of Frank Reynolds with two penalty goals, one on the stroke of half-time.

All that waste was put into perspective when the visitors took the lead just three minutes into the second half. A needless penalty for offside gave them territory, fly-half Ben Penfold hoisted a crosskick, Reed snatched the try and Canterbury were rarely in the game after that.

They made life even harder for themselves when Will Waddington and Morris got yellow cards and the nearest they came to another score was a failed penalty. Even as the rugby on offer lapsed into the forgettable category Bury were never seriously inconvenienced by a side lacking ideas and energy, Reed and captain Matt Bursey scoring the tries which earned them a bonus-point win.

Canterbury, without a game this weekend, return to action at Old Albanians on March 25.

Canterbury: Kingsman, Hilton (Halliday), Waddington, Hollidge, Morgan, Reynolds, Cooper (Williams) Macmillan, (Young), Morrris, Lusher (Herriott), Irvine, Stephens, Furneaux (Rogers), Murray, Oliver.