Bedford Athletic advanced to the final of the Bedfordshire Cup with a 33-6 semi-final victory over Stockwood Park on Saturday. It was a commendable win from the Ath’s 2nd XI, against a team from the league above and of particular note was keeping their opponents tryless.
The early stages were dominated by kicking from both sides as they looked to earn vital territory.
The advantage eventually fell to the home side who were able to kick a penalty to touch and then set up a driving lineout maul from which they scored the first try touched down by Ryley Longmuir on 12 minutes.
The home side did not maintain this momentum allowing infringements to creep into their game and Stockwood Park were able to establish a foothold in the home side’s half through several penalties.
They had two good chances from lineouts deep in the Bedford Athletic 22, but lost possession on both occasions.
They did win a third lineout in the same position and this led to another penalty chance which Stockwood Park converted to trail 5-3.
At this stage, the match was a close contest, although it was nearly opened up in the home side’s favour following an electric break by Ben Brown which was stopped illegally in the visitors’ 22.
On this occasion, the lineout catch and drive from the penalty did not go to plan and Stockwood Park cleared the danger. They ended the half on the attack with stern defence keeping them at bay on the Bedford Athletic try line and so they settled for a second penalty kick at goal which gave them a 6-5 lead at half time.
Ath pull clear in second forty
The second half was a much more Bedford Athletic dominated affair.
An early tactical kick from Callum Daly put pressure on the visiting back three and when they failed to retain possession it was Elijah Oladeji who broke the gain line to set up the try scoring opportunity for Tom Orton.
Daly converted to make the score 12-6.
The pressure continued to come from the home side and the next score once again saw the visitor’s defence breached some distance from the try line with good support play seeing Bradley McKenna offload for a supporting Rob Watkins to score the side’s third try, Daly again converting.
The problems mounted for Stockwood Park when their full back was sin binned for deliberately killing the ball following yet another break from the home side.
The resultant penalty saw Brodie Longmuir held up over the line and although that earned the visitors a goal line drop out, a further clearance landed in the hands of home full back Adam Richardson.
He side stepped the oncoming defence and ran through acres of space for the fourth try, Daly keeping the scoreboard ticking over with the conversion.
With an hour of the match gone, the home side looked to make the game safe by kicking another three point penalty with the lead at 26-6.
The kick missed, but they needn’t have worried as a fifth try soon arrived on this occasion Bradley McKenna injecting the pace to break and score his own try, Daly converting for a final score of 33-6.
Most pleasing for the home team was their continued hard work in defence ensuring no try scoring opportunities arose or could be taken by their opponents.
The second team return to league action on Saturday away to Fakenham in Counties Two Eastern Counties whilst the first team have a crucial bottom of the table encounter in Regional One South East with Harpenden at Putnoe Woods with a 3pm kick off.
Words by Jeremy Tyrrell
