SALE FC lost out to a well-organised Sedgley Park outfit by 30-15 but put in a tremendous second-half performance despite being down to 14 men for three-quarters of the match.

It was level pegging in the opening stages but Park opened their account when Sale were penalised in their 22 and the visitors opted for a kick to touch. With the lineout secured the resultant maul put flanker Danny Waddy over for the opening try, converted by Matthew Riley.

Sale got on the board with a penalty by Liam McGovern at the end of the first quarter but a minute later full-back Ciaran Connolly was given his marching orders for a challenge which left Jamie Harrison with what later proved to be a broken vertebra. From that point the advantage was with the visitors.

Late in the half Sale were again penalised and from a scrum in the home 22 the ball went quickly out to the backs for Andrew Riley to touch down, but McGovern added a penalty on the stroke of half time to narrow the gap to just six points.

The second half got off to a bad start for the hosts when Park number eight Matt Lamprey gained possession just inside the Sale half and his powerful run ended with Park’s third try, converted by Riley, to put the visitors 13 points clear.

Sale then turned on the style with some scintillating handling for much of the second half and although McGovern added three further penalties to narrow Park’s lead to just four points the visitors' defence held firm.

With less than five minutes remaining Sale conceded two penalties in quick succession, and with the final play of the game Sedgley captain Juan Crous secured the bonus-point try to keep Sale teetering close to the relegation zone with just five matches remaining.