TENBURY RFC supremo Andy Black believes the ending of his side’s flawless record will be the ‘wake-up call’ that can drive them to league and cup glory.

Black’s side remain unbeaten this campaign but failed to win for the first time this season as they were held to an 18-18 draw by Midlands Five West North title rivals Warley last weekend.

The draw means Tenbury maintain a four-point cushion above second-placed Warley with just two games of the league season to go – victory in both will ensure the title heads to Palmers Meadow.

But with a Midlands Junior Vase final against Mellish also on the horizon, Black says it is not a bad thing that the Warley game reminded Tenbury they are far from infallible.

He said: “After the game, if you gauged the disappointment among our players, it would have gone off the Richter Scale! They knew they hadn’t performed.

“If we perform with that sort of lack of application and decision-making in our remaining league games and against Mellish in the cup, then the season will have a sour end.

“But we won’t let that happen. The players will step up to the mark in training. It could be a good thing because it will make us focus harder on Mellish.

“If we had carried on, on the crest of a wave all the way up to the Mellish game, it can embed a culture or an attitude of ‘yeah, we can do this’ – complacency can set in quite quickly.

“We have had some very good performances this season but last weekend was a case of realising we have got to step back up to the mark.”

Tenbury started slowly last Saturday, showing some rustiness after a two-week break, and Warley went ahead when their scrum-half broke clear from 15 metres for a converted try.

The hosts responded well as Alex James broke the line and Callum Spires was on his shoulder in support to go over for a try converted by Claude Celton.

Warley then went down to 14 men for constant infringements but Tenbury could not capitalise on the advantage and, after both sides exchanged penalties, it was 10-10 at half-time.

Tenbury went ahead 20 minutes into the second half with good passing through a number of hands setting up skipper Ben James to go over in the corner from 15 metres.

A Celton penalty made it 18-10 to the hosts, who then had a try disallowed for a forward pass which proved crucial as Warley pulled back an unconverted try.

And then, with Tenbury down to 13 men after yellow cards for Pete Stevens and Sam Thompson , both for infringing around the edge of the ruck, Warley kicked a late penalty to level the scores.

Tenbury celebrate their 60th anniversary at home to Ledbury in a commemorative game this Saturday and Black added: “Although it’s only an anniversary game we want to get back to playing some good rugby.”