Brighton have pledged to sharpen up their act off the pitch after a six-point penalty left them facing relegation.

But the Waterhall club are happy they have been cleared by the RFU of anything more sinister than an administrative error after seeing a ten-point penalty reduced on appeal.

Brighton are bottom of London Three South East after being penalised for fielding an ineligible player in three games.

The punishment wipes out the six points they had picked up from their three wins this season and they are likely to be relegated, barring a restructure of the leagues, after they lost 35-12 at home to Bognor on Saturday.

But the club have held meetings behind the scenes to try and sort out errors which led to them listing the wrong name on a teamsheet.

Chairman Richard Thoms said: "We consider our appeal to have been hugely successful.

"We hold our hands up to an administrative error and weve had numerous meetings at the club to try and ensure it does not happen again.

"Geoff Blackett, who chaired the appeal, agreed wholeheartedly that we are patently not a dishonest club.

"We still have points to play for and we will fight for our position in this division.

Nick Jones and Paul Pride scored tries to keep Brighton in the game at 14-12 at half-time. Bognor admitted they were complacent in the first half but they put that right after the break.

Dave Sweeney, Billy Toon, George Castleton and Karl Flynn scored tries with Rob Parry adding two conversions and four penalties.