Director of rugby Brett Taylor has warned his London Scottish squad they need to be more ruthless if they are to stand a chance of overhauling National League One leaders Esher.

The Exiles narrowly failed to grab a bonus-point triumph over Stourbridge as tries from Charlie Broughton and full-back Frankie Neale gave them a 19-5 win.

Esher’s eight-try haul against Otley stretched their advantage at the top back to five points and Taylor admits his men cannot lose ground to their rivals as 2010 approaches.

“I don’t think we can afford to lose any games if we want to catch them. We need to try and keep hold of their coat tails,” he said.

“We had try scoring opportunities to get the fourth score, but we need to respect possession a little bit more and have the confidence to go through our phases.

“We’ve got a good attacking structure, but we are looking for the knock out blow all the time rather than fashioning the score. We need to get back to our ruthless best.”

Charlie Broughton’s brace represented a fine comeback for a player who sat out most of October, having taken time to adapt to the step up in class from National League Two South.

And Taylor was pleased with his return to form.

“He has been in and out of the side, but has taken a few things on board and I’d say he had his best game for us this season at the weekend,” he added.

“Young players sometimes analyse their games too much and we just wanted him to get back to what he does best. He did all the nuts and bolts very well, and seems to be back to where he was.

“He is very ambitious with his rugby and it is amazing what a bit of confidence can do.”

Scottish entertain Esher in January having faced fellow title chasers Cambridge and Launceston straight after the festive break and Taylor insists his men must hit the ground running in the new year.

He said: “We’ve got a good run of games before Christmas and we must use it to build a foundation. We’ve got three top of the table clashes so we have to be on top of our game.”

Scottish’s next three games: Dec 5 Newbury (a), 12 Tyndale (h), Blackheath (a).