DESPITE scoring two spectacular tries early in the second half, Wellington went down to an 81-24 away defeat against second-placed Midsomer Norton in Counties One Western North.

Trailing 43-0 at the interval, Wellington hit back with a try by Tom Slade, converted by Alex Davey, in a move started 90 metres out by Evan Greening.

Wellington followed this up with another try with Greening touching down and finishing off a move which had begun 80 yards out by Ron Kelly and involved good play by the visitors’ backs to make it 43-12.

But the home side, second in the table, went on to score another five tries, with Corey Jenkinson scoring a try for Wellington, with Davey converting, and Slade snapping up his second five-pointer with the final play of the day to earn Wellington a bonus point.

While they never threw in the towel at half time, Wellington will want to forget their first half display in which they conceded seven tries.

Midsomer Norton, four points behind leaders Dings Crusaders before the game, struck after only three minutes when they crossed Wellington’s line for an unconverted try.

Wellington found themselves under non-stop pressure as Midsomer Norton piled on the agony with another six tries before the interval, four of which were converted.

At this stage of the match, Wellington were in bad shape and heading for a heavy defeat but they shocked Midsomer Norton with two plucky tries of their own which produced an immediate response from the home side.

In the end Midsomer Norton won comfortably while Wellington would have left for home thinking what might have been if they had defended better in the opening 40 minutes.

The result means Wellington remain bottom of the table with only one victory - over fellow strugglers Cheltenham - from eight matches.