Bedford Athletic bounced back from scoring zero points at third placed, Broadstreet to post 13 tries against struggling Old Coventrians in RFU Regional Two Midlands East on Saturday (14 February), winning 83-7.
The Ath remain fourth in the division despite winning 13 of their 17 league games so far, with Market Harborough topping the table and Northampton Old Scouts and Broadstreet in second and third.
Saturday provided the perfect opportunity to bounce back with a vengeance, after the Ath fell to a meek 41-0 away loss to fellow challengers, Broadstreet two weeks ago.
Read: Bedford Ath draw a blank in key loss at Broadstreet
They did just that, posting 83 points on a beleaguered Old Coventrians team who are second bottom of the division.
The flurry of tries began in the sixth minute, and did not stop for the entirety.
Thomas Bailey and Steven Smith shared the tries that would secure the Ath bonus point; Bailey opening the try scoring in the sixth minute, before Smith struck with a double salvo in three minutes.
Bailey had the bonus point sewn up by 18 minutes, and with Leo Mortimer converting three of the four tries, the Ath led 26-0 by the 20-minute mark, while the shell shocked Coventrians were not helped by a 15th-minute sin-binning for Paul Wilkes.
Mortimer would get his name in the try scoring column later on in the half, sandwiched between further scores for Harry Sawford-Smith, and the Ath’s leading all-time try scorer, Josh Cassell who scored Bedford’s seventh try of a rampant first half with the final play.
Sawford-Smith and Steven Smith both gained braces in a second half where the try scoring did not stop, with Erranvir Singh Soomal amongst a plethora of other try scorers, as the Ath added six more tries to the seven they scored in the first half.
Mortimer added four further conversions to finish on a total points haul of 23 points.
Old Coventrians did get on the board thanks to a late score from Joshua James, aided in part by a yellow card for the Ath’s Lewis Sharp, but it was all immaterial as Bedford racked up a huge, confidence boosting win.
Focus turns to a fortnights’ time, where the Ath will surely face a far stiffer test at Rushmere Road, where they will hope to eat into the gap between them and Northampton Old Scouts.
Defeat may call time on returning to Regional One Midlands East at the first time of asking.
