Bedford Ath 12 (Tries: Kotze, Ireland. Con: J Elphick.       

Peterborough 13 (Tries: Mberi, Harrison. Pen: Kleyhans.      

A late try by Lithuanian international Max Guseinov gave Peterborough a narrow 13-12 win over Bedford Athletic in a tense Midlands Division One encounter last Saturday afternoon away at the Putnoe Woods ground, writes Phil Elmer.

The match was always likely to be a close competition with both sides in mid-table and out of the promotion race but still trying to ensure their league status for next season. The added spice to the fixture was the visit of East Midlands’ selectors to look over the two teams for possible additions to their squad in the prestigious East Midlands v Barbarians fixture in March.

The game had a lively start within 2 minutes as Bedford centre Johannes Kotze touched down and, with Jamie Elphick adding the conversion points, the ‘Ath’ were firmly in control of the opening stages of the match.

For the first quarter of the match it was mainly Bedford having most of the possession and territorial advantage and on 14 minutes Ath moved further ahead with a try from scrum half Matt Ireland to lead 12-0.

Despite their slow start Peterborough were gradually easing into the match and began to make several runs into the Ath defence as half time approached.

On 33 minutes good forward movement from the Borough pack allowed their backs the space to move the ball wide to centre Chris Kells who gave winger Gus Mberi the chance to dive over in the corner and close the gap to12-5 before the break.

After the restart the Peterborough forwards began to force their presence on the Bedford defence and this pressure gave full back Louis Kleyhans a penalty opportunity in front of the posts on 66 minutes to pull Borough closer at 12-8 and set up a nail-biting last quarter.

Both sides squandered further chances to score but eventually replacement winger Max Guseinov darted through with 9 minutes remaining following a superb run by George Wheble to edge Peterborough in front for the first time by a single point.

 But Bedford had two late chances to steal the match.

With 3 minutes left the home side could have easily settled the game but full back Elphick narrowly missed a penalty kick from 25 yards out and, 3 minutes into injury time, a late Ath ‘try’ was disallowed by the referee who had previously yellow carded Borough’s James Clarke and Ath’s Phil Elphick for seemingly trivial offences.

For Peterborough player/coach Darian Uys impressed the selectors as did No.8 Pete Brudnell and the second row pairing of Mark Hodges and Pete Kolakowski worked tirelessly all afternoon.

But it was Scottish centre George Wheble who caught the eye with some penetrating runs deep into the Bedford half.

Broadstreet 19 (Tries: Campton. Con: Richards. Pens: Richards 4.     

Luton 10 (Try: Rose. Con: Lincoln. Pen: Lincoln.      

Luton, who very rarely got out of their own half during the first period, were out-played by 'Street's forwards.  Richards opened the scoring on fourteen minutes, with a thirty metres penalty.  3 - 0.

On twenty seven minutes, 'Street's Compton touched down from a driving maul which Richards converted. 10 - 0.  Richards kicked another penalty two minutes later, bringing the score to 13-0.     Broadstreet had Luton at their mercy from an overlapping backs move two minutes later, only for the final pass to go astray.   The half finished with Luton's captain, Lincoln, kicking a penalty following an infringement by T. Greevy, who was yellow carded.    Half time,  13 - 3.

Luton came storming out in the second half, which resulted in a try on five minutes, from  a loose maul, by number two Ross.  Lincoln converted, score 13-10.   Broadstreet's Richards missed three kicked penalties during the half, but also landed two.  Broadstreet were over Luton's line on thirty six minutes, but the hall was held up.   The game finished with Luton defending their own line for the last five minutes.

Dudley Kingswinford 23 (Tries: Mitchell, Bulloch. Cons: McLellan 2. Pens: McLellan 3.       

Luctonians 28 (Tries: Ruthven 2, Panniers. Cons: James 2. Pens: James 3..    

Though Andy McLellan kicked DK 3-0 up after 2 minutes when Luc’s failed to release the ball, it was quickly apparent that the disjointed home side were all over the place.  They lost the first scrum against the head and had Luc’s been a little more confident early on they might have had a couple of tries very quickly as they had a couple of 3:1 overlaps in the first ten minutes. Lucs drew level with a penalty from scrum half Chris James after 13 minutes and went ahead with a bizarre try after 17 minutes.  DK full back Andy McLellan fielded a ball inside the Luc’s half then managed to fling a crass inside pass right into the arms of Luc’s centre Bruce Ruthven standing on his own, minding his own business and who gratefully received and ran 50m to the line for an unconverted try to make the score 3-8. 

DK’s performance had been pretty appalling for the first 20 minutes or so but they finally got lucky after 25 minutes. Luc’s had knocked on in a promising position and as the ref played advantage Gareth Davies picked up the loose ball to break quickly down the left before releasing a perfect pass for Alan Mitchell to score close in, Andy McLellan converted for DK to lead 10-8.  The lead was short lived as DK continued to make the most basic of errors then infringed to try and rescue the situation.  Luc’s Chris James took full advantage, slotting penalties on 28 minutes and then 36 minutes to lead 10-14.  DK’s only spark of inspiration in a dire first half came on 37 minutes by virtue of a great piece of play from Tom Bissell deep iside the Luc’s half.  The young fly half stepped inside his man beautifully to break forward and feed Alan Mitchell outside him, Mitch’s short break and pass inside was snapped up by flanker James Bullock who swept in near the posts.  Andy McLellan converted for DK to go in 17-14 up at the break.            

                             Half Time:   DUDLEY KINGSWINFORD  17   LUCTONIANS  14

DK tried hard initially to break free of their first half lethargy and were duly rewarded when Andy McLellan kicked them 20-14 ahead after 53 minutes.  The bad habits quickly returned though and a poor kick from Ben Rimene who was coming under increasing pressure, enabled Lucs to launch a quick-fire attack through their backs.  The DK back line was AWOL and right wing Mark Panniers trotted in for an easy try converted by Chris James to nudge the visitors 20-21 ahead on the hour.  This seemed to knock the stuffing out of the home side and further inept defence saw them leak another soft try after 65 minutes, Lucs backs taking advantage of huge holes in the DK rearguard to route the ball through several pairs of hands, culminating in centre Bruce Ruthven sprinting in for his second try converted by Chris James for Lucs to lead 20-28.

Dunstablians 8 (Try: Ellershaw. Pen: White.       

Market Bosworth 10 (Tries: Robinson, Gutteridge.    

Dunstablians missed the opportunity to go joint top of the table after coming unstuck against relegation threatened Market Bosworth.

Dee’s gifted Bosworth their first try, but it was one they deserved, as the home side attempted an attack out of their own half. Their continual flat back line forced scrum half Gerry Goss to offer a similar flat pass that was pounced on by Bosworth’s centre Richard Robinson who broke free to touch down for the unconverted try.

Wasted opportunities followed by both sides but it was difficult to remember too many raids into the Bosworth final quarter at all by the Bedfordshire outfit as they aimlessly kicked away possession at vital times when the rare openings and overlaps were made.

Only a harsh yellow card offence by Bosworth’s open side Steve Morfil gifted Jon White a penalty on the half hour mark to cut the arrears to two at half time and it was scarcely deserved.

The second half was as disappointing as the first for Dee’s as the gap grew between the sides as they conceded a soft try in the right hand corner. Following a kick deep into their opponent’s half Dee’s failed to organise their chase defence as the impressive Bosworth full back Chris Colvin weaved into space to set up a highly entertaining try in the right hand corner courtesy of winger Fred Gutteridge.

A few changes were made with Gerhard Swart and Stef Myburgh added to the fray but it did little to gel the side as a general lack of continuity dogged the match.

Laurence White was this time on the receiving end of another yellow card decision as Dee’s pressurised the Bosworth scrum. The scrum was almost turned 180 degrees when the official deemed Bosworth to have played the ball and gave them another put in and White was shown yellow for his vocal frustration at the strange decision.

James Ellershaw notched his 13^th league try midway through the half but for all their possession in the latter quarter of the match Dee’s did little to inspire. The writing was on the wall as Kev Boland showed a glimpse of inspiration as he glided down to touchline only for Steve Armstrong to knock on from the inside pass as the line beckoned.

A last ray of hope was provided by the official in the dying seconds as he awarded Dee’s a penalty on the 10 metre line for an opportunity to steal the points but Jon White’s attempt drifted to the left of the uprights and to be honest it would have been a bit of an injustice had he been successful.

Walsall 10 (Tries: Coniff, Barniex.       

Longton 17 (Tries: Hughes, Banton. Cons: Green 2. Pen: Green.      

Report courtesy of Longton.

Longton were fortunate to come away with a 17-10pts. win at Staffordshire rivals Walsall in a scrappy, error-ridden game but were grateful to take the valuable two league points.

The visitors took the lead after only three minutes when back row forward, Kieron Healey, burst through the middle of the home defence before feeding a perfectly timed pass to the supporting Tom Hughes who sprinted in under the posts for a fine try, converted by Paul Green. This score almost came too early as Longton took their foot off the pedal anticipating a large victory. Walsall missed a none too difficult penalty chance for crossing by Longton but then in the 9th. minute scored an excellent try with a fast flowing backs move. The conversion attempt failed enabling Longton to hold onto a slender 7-5pts. lead. Five minutes later the hosts had a chance to take the lead with a penalty but the effort drifted wide.

Longton, thanks to some excellent line out work from Rich Kelly and Rich Thompson then started to take control, camping inside the Walsall "22". Wave after wave of attacks on the line followed but a combination of good defence and over eagerness by the attackers saw no score come, despite two yellow cards for Walsall forwards deliberately slowing the ball down at the rucks. Then, right on half time Walsall, still one man down in the sin bin, took a surprise lead as Longton attempted to run the ball out of defence; an attempted chip through for the flying Chris Tenucci ricocheted off a Walsall centre and the ensuing foot race saw Pierre Barnieux hack the ball over the line before he won the race for the touch down, to send Walsall into a 10-7pts. half time lead.

The second half was a frustrating one for the away side as they struggled to find their rhthym and time and again a combination of spilled passes, blocked kicks and wrong options saw potential scoring opportunities wasted. Walsall rarely threatened either as the battle raged mainly in midfield. Just as it seemed that it was not going to be Longton's day, they finally began to exert pressure on a tiring Walsall pack. With only five minutes of normal time remaining the home team gave away a penalty some 25m. out and halfway to the touchline. Paul Green stepped up and coolly drilled over the kick between the posts to level the scores at 10 points all and Longton breathing a huge sigh of relief at the prospect of a valuable point. Then, 2 minutes into injury time the Walsall pack was shunted backwards at a scrum only 10m. from their own line. The ball squirted out and Longton scrum half, Darryl Banton, pounced on the loose ball to run to the line and score the decisive winning try. Paul Green's excellent conversion was icing on the cake to make the final score 17-10pts. in favour of the visitors

Scunthorpe P