Helensburgh were brought back down to earth with a bump in Coatbridge on Saturday as they failed to build on an unexpected victory over Oban Lorne.

A sobering 40-14 loss to Waysiders/Drumpellier now puts a bit of distance between the Greens and Waysiders in the relegation zone, with Burgh worryingly lying in second bottom.

Typically Burgh, however, they recovered from a dreadful start when they shipped four tries in the first half, to draw the second period 14-14 with scores from racing winger Ben Farrar and full-back Nick Fish, both converted by Paul Howell.

WD penetrated the Burgh backline at will in the early exchanges – it wasn’t so much that Burgh were that rusty after last week’s monumental win over the then league leaders, more the incessant changing in their line-up probably caused a bit of unfamiliarity.

READ MORE: Helensburgh topple league leaders Oban Lorne

Burgh lost influential skipper Cammy Kerr, starting at tight-head, to his ongoing foot injury, then Craig Calderwood suffered a knee injury and couldn’t continue.

Number eight Kieran Wallace made some bullocking runs when Burgh had go-forward ball, but that was seldom, and severely limited off first-phase ball, with Burgh’s scrum shunted backwards at will by WD’s large pack.

Stand-off Joe Bull tried valiantly to put width on Burgh possession, but WD had other ideas, keeping things tight and starving the visitors of any ball, before finding acres of space in behind and capitalising on five-metre scrums and lineouts inside the Burgh 22.

READ MORE: Helensburgh coach demands 80 minutes of attitude after Cumnock defeat

Captain Kerr said afterwards: “We arrived quite confident, maybe over-confident after last week.

“They caught us flat-footed and used their big pack on a small pitch, to good effect. It took us more than half an hour to wake up and by then the damage was done.

“We were better in the second half but it was too little, too late.

“However, we must take the positives from the second half and learn that you can’t give teams a head-start.

“We’ll be better from this sore one which we’ll use as a wake-up call for the tough games to come, as we continue to fight to stay in this division.”

READ MORE: Helensburgh captain says team will learn from late loss to Paisley

Burgh: Burgess, Sellars, Robertson, O’Brien, Kinsman, Bull, Howell, Girvan, Ard, Kerr, Calderwood, Smallwood, Alton, Wallace, King. Subs: Hepworth, Fish, Farrar, Sampson, Rettie, Byrne.

This Saturday, October 19, Helensburgh entertain local rivals Clydebank, with kick-off at Ardencaple at 3pm.