Andy Pratt admits Canterbury Rugby Club are in a battle for survival in National 2 South but insists the green shoots of recovery are emerging.

The city club suffered a third-straight defeat, going down 18-8 at Old Elthamians on Saturday and now sit 13th with 26 points, two more than third-bottom Southend, occupying the final relegation place, just eight ahead of rock-bottom Dings Crusaders.

Despite the reverse, head coach Pratt said he was proud of the players in his injury-ravaged squad who made light of the losses of Martyn Beaumont and Ollie Best late on, which led to Pratt having to name himself on the bench as a replacement.

Pratt said: “Of course I was disappointed with the result but I was proud of the performance the lads put in.

“We’ve had a lot of soul searching through the course of the season so far. We have been going through our processes and looking for the root causes. We’ve had some bad luck but we have to be honest and say it’s a lot more than just that.

“There were aspects of the (previous week’s) Cambridge performance that were completely unacceptable but against that backdrop, I was proud.

“There are a lot of green shoots coming through but it’s up to us to help them along.

“The table doesn’t lie. I’ve said all along that I’d see how we were doing after we’ve played everyone else once.

“We’re at that point now, just over midway and we are where we are.

“There’s no point being arrogant about it. From now on, our main goal is to stay in the division, nothing more. If we can achieve that, I will be happy.”

Canterbury have been given the week off training as they are not back in action until the visit of Worthing to Merton Lane on January 3 – the first of three home games in a four-match stretch.

Pratt said: “Staying up is certainly within our capability. We are not looking into the abyss. There are a lot of things in our favour. There is character and confidence in the squad we need to build on.

“We have got the home games but we have to realise, we can’t rely on our home games alone. We saw that much in the last game against Cambridge.”