OKEHAMPTON’S worries at the wrong end of the South West One table deepened following a 24-12 home defeat by Weston.

The number of relegation places out of South West One won’t be known until the trickle-down effect from higher divisions is known, which means second-bottom Okehampton are in limbo until the end of the season.

Two sides went down last season – Drybrook and Old Cenralians – which was necessary to make room for Barnstaple coming down from National Two West.

As things stand at the moment it looks likely, but not certain, that no team coming down from National Two West would be steered into South West One next season.

Long-term league watchers will know relegation issues are seldom easy to predict due to the trickle-down effect and finishing in the bottom two is always a risky business.

And after this latest defeat, at the hands of a side already doomed to finish in the bottom two, Okehampton face some anxious weeks ahead.

The table shows Okehampton need to find nine points somewhere to get ahead of Ivybridge and out of the bottom two. For a side that has not picked-up a point during four successive defeats, that’s a tall order.

The frustrating part about the defeat by Weston was that Okehampton were ahead for more of the game than the opposition.

Tries from Rhys Palmer and Brandon Horn, plus a Kevin Dennis conversion, put Okey 5-0 then 12-5 up in the first half. They did not score again.

Weston only levelled with seven minutes to go when Okehampton coughed-up a penalty try at a five-metre scrum.

With Okehampton suffering yellow card shortages – Okey were down to 13 by now – Weston exploited the gaps to run over two more tries.

Okehampton have no league game at 1st XV level this Saturday.