A HARD-fought bonus losing point was Cleethorpes' only reward from their emotionally-charged display in a 13-6 defeat at Ashfield.
Before kick-off, a minute's silence was held in memory of Lynne Dring, the wife of club coach Chris, who was tragically killed in an accident on Hewitts Circus in Cleethorpes last week.
The Meggies started brightly and were unlucky not to get on the scoreboard in the first ten minutes.
But it was the hosts who took the lead when their inside centre skipped through a string of attempted tackles to score under the posts, with the resulting try being converted.
Clee were first on the score board after the restart, with winger Lee McGregor slotting over a penalty from out wide.
However, Ashfield responded with two quick penalties of their own to take the score to 13-3.
From a line-out in their own half, Clee set up the maul, and, powered on by scrum-half Craig Knight, pushed Ashfield back almost 50 metres.
The drive was only stopped by an infringement.
McGregor stepped up to convert the penalty and set up a frantic final ten minutes.
Ashfield missed a last-minute penalty that would have cruelly prevented Cleethorpes taking anything from the clash.
However, when the ball landed with Meggies captain Pete Southwell, he put it out of play to secure a hard-fought losing bonus point for his side.