Rosslyn Park skipper Hugo Ellis admitted their National League One opening day 24-15 defeat at Ampthill was a “bitter pill to swallow”.

Park took an early lead through Adam Bellamy’s try and Scott Sneddon’s conversion, but they were 10-7 behind at the break.

In the second half Ampthill kicked their way into 19-10, with Harry Leonard’s 50m penalty all Park could manage from periods of possession and territory that they might have, on another day, made better use of.

Ampthill were down to 13 men, briefly, through a couple yellow cards which Park took advantage of in the 77th minute thanks to Charlie Piper’s unconverted try.

In the second minute of injury time, Ampthill’s debutant second row, Nick Isiekwe, found himself on the overlap to run in Ampthill’s second try of the afternoon and deny Park a consolation losing bonus point.

Ellis said: “It's a bitter pill to swallow at the end to come away from a game that could have gone either way with nothing.

“We didn't execute well enough when we got into their 22 and didn't use the wind well enough in the first half.

“Ampthill is definitely a tough place to come though, not many teams will come away from there with a win and we've just got to bounce back and go again next week."

Park host Cambridge – who lost at Plymouth Albion - this weekend.

Forwards coach Kieran Power said: "In what was a very combative forward performance our ill-discipline and control to get out of our half in the early stages of the game had a huge effect on the outcome.

“What we can take from the game was a very spirited performance, but we lacked the execution needed when chances came our way.

“This is something we will looking at and be ready for Cambridge who play a very expansive style."