STOURBRIDGE director of rugby Neil Mitchell says his side can afford no more slip-ups in their quest for promotion.

Their hopes were dealt a massive blow last Saturday as they slipped to a 29-18 defeat at Preston Grasshoppers.

Despite outscoring their opponents by three tries to two, third-placed Stour left Lightfoot Green empty-handed, victims of their own indiscipline which gifted Preston full back Sean Taylor five penalty goals and a scoreboard margin just too much for their late rally to claw back.

Mitchell said: “The defeat has really set us back.

"The players sat back and took it that the win would just come their way, which is something you can’t do.

“It was one of our worst performances this season. We also lost the respect of the referee and that set us back throughout.

“I have spoken to the players about that and now I want them to come fighting back.

“The loss at Preston means that if we fail to take something from any of our 11 remaining games then you have to assume our chances would be over for this season.

“That would be a real shame because even if we don’t make it we still want to be in the battle right until the the end.

“The players are conscious of that and I’m confident we will see a marked improvement against Leicester.”

Stour host Leicester Lions at Stourton Park this weekend (3pm) as they look to get back on track.

“There has to be a response from the players and we will be making some changes on the back of the defeat," said Mitchell.

“We now have some more options available and will be looking to use them.”

Ashley Elvers, Josh Trinham and Tom Mitchell are all in contention for the game against Leicester.

Against Preston, it was the hosts who opened the scoring as a maul side entry in Stour’s 22 gave Taylor the opportunity to calibrate his kicking radar.

A similar offence at the other end produced a more difficult opportunity but Stour outside-half Rod Petty slotted it.

Nathan Bressington then produced some neat footwork to evade the cover and score in the corner on nine minutes to make it 8-3 to the visitors.

Stour continued to attempt to move the ball, but found themselves contained by the Preston defence.

However, a converted try from Alastair Murray and another penalty from Taylor saw Preston ahead at the break.

Stour pressed from the restart but it was the hosts that extended their lead with yet another penalty to make it 16-8.

Further indiscipline continued to cost Stour possession and territory, referee Callum Sharpe finally losing patience and yellow carding second row Robbie Hurrell.

Taylor then added a further penalty as the depleted Stour defences failed to heed the lesson.

Toby Hadley and Connor Nicholls did crash over for Stour but a further try from Murray in the closing stages sealed Preston's win.