Bedford Athletic were beaten away at North Walsham going down 35-24. In the end, they took nothing from the game although they were competitive throughout and led for a time in the first half.
From the kick off, Bedford Athletic had the early possession and pressure and although they did not threaten the home side’s line they were dominant in the tackle and loose play.
This period was capped with a penalty kicked by returning fly half Leo Mortimer in the eighth minute.
The first try of the day went to the home side as they exploited the blind side from a lineout and raced away down the left wing to put winger Freddie Snary over in the corner for an unconverted try.
North Walsham were starting to get the better of the kicking game with full back Jack O’Leary causing problems when he entered the line at pace and one such break carried play deep into the visitor’s 22.
This enabled North Walsham to set up camp on the visitor’s try line and eventually second row Hudson De Lucchi dived over for the score this time converted by Ross Magnus.
A period when Bedford Athletic simply could not secure or keep the ball ended when Magnus kicked another penalty on the 20 minute mark.
Gradually, Bedford Athletic built their way back into the game.
A quick tap penalty from Stephen Woodhead might have reaped dividends except for a knock on, but from a following lineout, the Bedford Athletic forwards drove with ferocious pace and power at the home defence eventually resulting in a score out wide for Harry Sawford-Smith.
Keeping the pressure on, a turnover penalty was won and kicked to touch from where a driving lineout powered over the home side’s line with the try touched down by captain Lewis Ager. Mortimer’s conversion gave the visitors the lead at 17-15.
As soon as they gained the initiative the visitors surrendered it.
A speculative kick over the defence from home scrum half Connor Dudley was misjudged by the visiting defence, then knocked on and then not gathered properly, allowing North Walsham to kick through and centre Benny Hewitt win the race to the line for the try.
Magnus converted this in the 34th minute and had a long range penalty chance to extend the lead before halftime but this fell short and the North Walsham lead remained 22-17.
Ath miss out with 13 men in the rain
Bedford Athletic dropped the second half kick off and then came under immediate pressure in the worsening weather conditions with the match now being played in driving rain.
North Walsham won but missed a penalty kick at goal and when the visitors had a similar opportunity they also missed their kick leaving the score unchanged with half an hour to play.
Magnus did then kick a further penalty chance before Bedford Athletic went through a bad patch with a high penalty count and little retained possession.
This eventually gave their hosts the possession and the territory to exert further pressure on the visitors line and this resulted in a close range driving try for hooker Matt Bowden which with Magnus’ conversion extended the lead to 32-17 with twenty minutes remaining.
As the weather cleared, so Bedford Athletic’s attacking opportunities returned and a clever cross field kick from Mortimer was fielded by Toby Hunt who dragged two defenders over the line with him to score the try.
Mortimer’s conversion made it 32-24.
The visitor’s momentum was halted by a yellow card to Erran Singh-Soomal for a high tackle in the 72nd minute and Magnus kicked a further penalty.
Another yellow card to Josh Cassell for a ruck offence reduced Bedford Athletic to 13 men with the referee not deeming similar offences by the home side at this stage worthy of similar sanction.
Bedford Athletic had one last throw of the dice with a length of the field move including a driving maul that went 30 metres before winning a penalty.
A kick to touch gave them a 5 metre line out but a shift play intending to peel round the front of the lineout didn’t work and the chance to gain anything from the match was gone, with the Ath sitting in 10th in Regional South East with one win from five games.
Bedford Athletic return to action on Saturday (19 October) when they host unbeaten Oundle at Putnoe Woods with a 3pm kick off.
Words by Jeremy Tyrrell
