Kris Carslaw has been told he is good enough to compete for major honours – despite yet another defeat.

The Paisley light-middleweight suffered a unanimous points loss to Michel Soro in France last night as he lost out on the chance to claim the vacant WBO European crown.

The 117-111, 118-110, 118-110 defeat in Le Cannet on the French Riviera means the 28-year-old has come out second best in four of his last seven encounters.

But his trainer Colin Bellshaw insists the Scot, who picked up a nasty cut just above his hairline during the fight, is not far away from landing his first major prize.

Bellshaw said: "Soro is a guy who has fought for a world title before and is very slick. But there was never much between either fighter.

"A couple of the judges Gave Soro the win by eight rounds and that is unbelievable. It was never that wide.

"As for what we do next, I don't think we need a new approach. Kris is fighting at championship level but we just need to find that extra 10 per cent that will get him over the line."

ice hockey: Braehead Clan slipped to their tenth defeat in 12 league games last night when they were cut down 7-2 at Sheffield. Steelers.