However, a long run of poor form subsequently saw the club drop steadily towards the relegation zone.

The fraction drops steadily with age, levelling out by the time people reach their sixties.

For the next four hours they dropped steadily down through the ocean depths.

Sales have dropped steadily over the past three decades apart from a brief respite in the early 1990s.

The wholesale connection rate has dropped steadily in recent years from a 23p-a-minute call rate in 1995 to 4.3p this year.