Bedford Athletic lost their crucial bottom of the table clash 32-30 at home to Amersham & Chiltern on Saturday, a result that leaves them perilously close to relegation from RFU Regional South East Division One.
In a soft performance, they failed to build on a 21-5 lead in the first half running out of energy and ideas in the second half to lose to a late penalty.
The home team failed to deal with the first clearance kick of the game, leading to sustained Amersham pressure ended only by a knock on. From the scrum, Bedford Athletic found space on the blind side and winger Bradley McKenna broke a couple of tackles to race away for the opening score from 80 metres.
Michael Trigg, in his 100th game for the Ath, added the conversion.
The visitors’ response was immediate as the home side gave away a needless penalty for sealing off a ruck, with Amersham kicking to the corner and driving the maul over the line for a try to hooker Joe Batt.
Bedford Athletic responded with pace and purpose sending a rolling maul fully 20 metres before Trigg broke away, feeding centre Dylan Edgington who broke through the defence and found McKenna in support for his second try.
Immediately the home side surged again keeping the Amersham defence in retreat and this time it was Harry Sawford-Smith who found the gap for the try, Trigg converting both for a 21-5 lead in the 15th minute.
Thereafter, Bedford Athletic began to lose their way.
Another pacy move lacked accuracy and when the ball went to ground, there was no response from the home side as winger Tom Fawsett picked up and found full back Ben Harris in support for Amersham’s second try.
They scored again when a flat and predictable Bedford Athletic backs move led to an interception by centre Dan Kingsley, and with winger Bojan Cecaric converting both tries the scores were back to 21-19 after 22 minutes.
It was Amersham who now started to create the scoring chances, and they were unlucky not to have a bonus point try before the break.
One effort was ruled out for a forward pass, and on another occasion the ball was held up over the line as Bedford Athletic struggled to break out of defence.
They did manage to kick a penalty during this period, and nearly scored at the end of the half as a breakaway almost led to a hat trick try for McKenna but instead the move was penalised for a push.
Bedford Athletic led 24-19 at half time.
It was Amersham who created the first opportunity in the second half when, from a line out, they moved the ball quickly across the field and the home defence stood off winger Fawsett until it was too late as he scored under the posts.
Trigg responded with a penalty for the home side to retake the lead at 27-26, but then the turning point of the match arrived in unlikely fashion.
Amersham had two players sin binned in quick succession for high tackles, and although Trigg kicked the second of these penalties for three points, the home side wasted their men advantage keeping play narrow kicking away possession in this period, never playing into the space now available.
In fact, they managed to concede three points to a penalty to replacement Ben Pothecary.
Restored to their full quota on the hour mark, and trailing by a single point, Amersham grew in confidence and dominated the rest of the match.
They were helped by a home side that was slow to the breakdown, erratic in their support play and inaccurate when they got the ball wide and created no further chances.
Amersham were again held up over the home side’s line before from the goal line drop out before Lewis Ager was penalised for not rolling away at a ruck.
Cameron Brough was then sin binned for not letting the quick tap penalty go ten metres, and with a kick in front of the posts, Cecaric converted to give Amersham a two point lead and the win.
Bedford Athletic played for over an hour without scoring a try and so failed to even collect the try bonus point, taking only the losing bonus point in defeat.
The defeat leaves the Ath seven points from safety with two matches to play and unless the side win their next match at Sudbury in two week’s time, they will be relegated.
Words by Jeremy Tyrrell
