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DORCHESTER lost their second consecutive game of the new Southern Counties South campaign after a 31-17 reverse at Corsham.
Chris Burton's side faced their second away game in a row with another tricky fixture at newly-promoted Corsham.
Dorchester's forward pack saw the return of George Damen, while the backs were forced into a number of changes due to illness and unavailability of some key players.
This didn't seem to deter the county town side as they made a positive start, immediately forcing Corsham on to the back foot.
In the second minute Dorchester won a good clean ball from the lineout, which fed number eight Damen who charged through the opposing inside centre channel.
Corsham were then penalised at the ruck allowing fly-half John Firkin to kick the resulting penalty.
From the restart the hosts drove up the field, using their pack to pick and drive around the fringes.
In the eighth minute a good spell of pressure from the home side, putting the ball through several phases, resulted in a large overlap on the left, which Corsham exploited to good effect by touching down to score near the corner.
The county town side then found themselves camped on Corsham's line, but to the hosts' credit they held out.
What followed is turning out to be Dorchester's achilles heel, as they conceded four quick penalties in succession, allowing the opponents to advance into their half.
And on the stroke of half-time Corsham scored thanks to a mixture of weak tackling and ball watching.
Five minutes into the second half the home side's number eight picked the ball up from the back of the scrum and burst through several flimsy tackles to offload to their supporting flanker, who scored under the posts.
The kick was converted and almost immediately Corsham scored again.
After giving away a silly penalty, the hosts won their line-out, feeding their number eight who waltzed through Dorchester's defence to score.
This time the visitors responded when, in the 53rd minute, the ball went wide after Dorchester had managed to suck in their opponents' pack, and prop Damien Weston forced his way over. Firkin then slotted over the conversion.
As the game wore on it was Corsham who scored against the run of play, again poor tackling being the main contributor.
Dorchester were not to be denied a second score and in the final minutes, prop Steve Hodgson forced his way over to grab a well deserved try. Firkin took the two points with the last kick of the match.
This was a fairly even match and Dorchester will reflect on a number of missed opportunities but perhaps more importantly crucial missed tackles. | 
