Esher director of rugby Mike Schmid has praised his side following their 10-23 home defeat to Doncaster in National One on Saturday.

With the scoreline just 7-7 at half-time, it seemed that Esher could have upset the fourth-placed side before conceding 16 second-half points.

Schmid told BBC Southern Counties Radio: "They are a top-three team, we were in the game the whole 80 minutes.

"I thought we played well and I was proud of the effort put in."

Esher are currently missing several big names through injury and Schmid believes his side will benefit from their return.

"I think we'll be getting James Inglis and possibly George Lowe back into the line-up next week, Mike Blakeburn is possibly two weeks away," he said.

"We've got some key guys to come back into the side still. We had a really strong bench today and we're starting to get back to a full-strength squad."

Esher lie in 12th place in National One with a gap of 12 points between them and the safety of 11th.

The bottom five sides at the end of the season will be relegated following a controversial re-structure of professional rugby's second tier.

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