A fifth straight defeat, their biggest of the season with seven tries conceded, pushed Canterbury into the lower reaches of the league table.

This is a city side which is rapidly running out of excuses.

In an all too familiar story they allowed Bishops Stortford to build a handsome first half lead, never threatened to catch them and were blown away in the late stages of the match.

Head Coach Nicky Little described the previous week’s result against Cambridge as ‘a good loss’ after an encouraging performance.   He will take no consolation from the eighty minutes he witnessed on Saturday.

Stortford, runners up in National 2 South last season, are always a challenge with their pace and ambitious off-loading game.

They were allowed to play it their way as Canterbury failed to wrap up men in the tackle and, when they did have possession, rarely made any lasting impression.

At the start the city side flattered to deceive as they went on the offensive but their limited reward was a Tom Best penalty goal and the wheels soon began to fall off.  They failed to deal with the restart after Best’s score and it took Stortford only two minutes to punish them with a try from prop Will Roberts, converted by Peirfrancesco Dotta.

By the half hour mark their troubles had multiplied.  There was a yellow card for flanker Ryan Ward and Stortford were 22-3 ahead thanks to a Dotta penalty goal and conversion, a second try for Roberts and one from wing Nick Hankin after a classic swerving finish.

Martyn Beaumont was the victim of that piece of individual skill but his answer  brought some relief to a reelingCanterbury.  The city side worked space for Aiden Moss’s piercing run and Beaumont took the off-load to register the try.

If that was a glimmer of hope it quickly died when an over ambitious floated pass was gifted to  Stortford wing Jimmy Rea who raced away unopposed.  Dotta added the goal points to give his side a 21-point cushion.

Canterbury started the second half encouragingly when, for once, they switched tactics and.kicked into inviting space where Harry Sayers won a race for the touchdown.

That, however, was as far as it went.  A yellow card for lock Matt Tomlinson did not prevent Stortford forging ahead.  In the final fourteen minutes they scored a further three tries through Richard Gill, Dom Morris and Steve Ball, all converted.

The city club just sank further into mediocrity, the lack of robust tackling and dynamism at the breakdown, plus a lineout which fell apart in the later stages, exposed fundamental weaknesses which need urgent attention if they are to survive.

Canterbury:  M.Beaumont, A.Moss (repl H.Sayers), C.Kingsman, W.Farris, (repl C.Horey), M.Rosvall, T.Best, D.Smart, I.Miljak (repl C.Townley), N.Wakefield (repl M.Barnes), A.Wake-Smith, R.Cadman, (repl S.Rogers). T.Burns, T.Edwards, R.Ward, M.Cantwell.