UPTON saw their second chance of a cup run ended by Pershore in an 8-7 home loss.

Having lost the previous weekend, Upton were put into the North Midlands Shield Plate first round.

With many players unavailable due to holidays, Upton gave a debut to Rob Airdrie in the front row for the clash against their county rivals.

They had to reshuffle the back row with Chris O’Neil moving to number eight and young Dan Hart and Nathan Tomkins playing either side.

With the youngsters rampaging around the field, Upton attempted to play a fast game and move their bigger opposition around.

They succeeded and, after O’Neil missed a long penalty, they went ahead.

Following a number of phases, scrum-half James Gammond broke blind and fed supporting hooker Rob Heeley, who in turn found Tomkins.

He shipped the ball onto full-back Joe Ayres, who used fine footwork to outwit his opponent and score under the posts, and O’Neil converted.

Upton were on top in the first period but, with just under ten minutes of the half left, the game began to slip away from them.

Oli Jones was sin-binned for overzealous use of the boot and Upton played out with 14 men.

The start of the second-half followed with Matt Glading put in the bin for apparently heading into the side of a maul.

With only six in the scrum, Upton held firm five metres out but, after quickly recycling the ball, Pershore fed big number eight Martin Hope to charge over.

The conversion was missed but the visitors found holes and Upton did anything to hold on.

They gave away a penalty in front of the posts, which Lewis Dolphin kicked to win the match.

Upton went back up to a full complement but could not find a crucial score.

O’Neil was unfortunate to miss a long, wide penalty attempt.

They begin their Midlands Three West (South) campaign at home to Cheltenham North on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Ledbury powered to a 30-7 win over Aston Old Edwardians in the same competition.

The Herefordshire side will visit Pershore in their Midlands Three West (South) opener on Saturday.