Bedford Athletic have fallen to the bottom of RFU Regional South East Division One after they were beaten 33-24 at bottom side Amersham & Chiltern on Saturday.
In a battle between the bottom two, the home side only played with a full complement of 15 for 18 minutes and yet were still able to take the match away from their visitors by five tries to three.
Early structure and shape from Bedford Athletic was good and created an early penalty chance which full back Sam Valpy kicked for a 3-0 lead on three minutes.
In response, they gave away an unnecessary penalty in their own half, Amersham kicked to touch and then sent a rolling maul from the lineout 15 yards to the try line for an opening score for Jordan Scott, with Tom Fawsett converting.
Bedford Athletic regrouped and applied pressure of their own, the first yellow card of the day arriving for home captain Josh Finch in the tenth minute for a deliberate knock on.
Thereafter, the visitors had three lineouts in quick succession. The first was lost due to a crooked throw, but the second saw a rolling maul trundling to the line until it was pulled down by try scorer Scott who took the second yellow card of the day.
Against 13 players, the third lineout saw the Bedford Athletic pack roll over the line with hooker Charlie Darlow scoring the try, with Valpy converting.
Against limited numbers Bedford Athletic started to over play; too many offloads went to ground, passes were dropped or knocks on halted momentum meaning that every time the visitors started to build pressure they then relieved it.
They were not able to take advantage of a further yellow card to prop Charles Swerling on 23 minutes which again left their opponents with 13 men.
Instead, they lost an attacking lineout, Amersham counter attacked, their clearance kick was fumbled so they regained possession and then swept past the visitors scrambling defence for a score under the posts for back row Michael Everett very much against the run of play.
The conversion was missed but the lead was regained at 12-10.
Finally, Bedford Athletic did start to string some phases together and a good break down the blindside initiated by scrum half Michael Trigg, released wing Bradley McKenna who found Andy Ince in support to muscle over the line.
Valpy’s conversion regained the lead for Bedford Athletic at 17-12 at half time.
The second half started with the Amersham captain receiving a second yellow card for a high tackle reducing his team to fourteen men for the remainder of the game.
This seemed to galvanise the home side, and they were soon on the attack with an Andy Ince yellow card evening numbers up for a period.
Amersham took advantage of their momentum with a lineout catch and drive that regained them the lead with a try to prop forward Razvan Dranca, with Fawsett converting.
Bedford Athletic were now struggling to bring composure to their play with attacks losing support, the ball being lost in contact or passes simply eluding the support.
All of which meant that they were unable to reach the home side’s 22 in any meaningful manner. By contrast, Amersham kept their game simple, recycling phase after phase of play and grinding down the visiting defence.
This paid dividends on the hour mark when scrum half Ben Harris spotted an undefended ruck and sniped through for his side’s bonus point try, Fawsett’s conversion moving the lead to 26-17.
This dominant forward pressure continued to pay dividends for the hosts as they capitalized on the visitors’ mistakes and another series of forward led phases saw the fifth try of the day scored by hooker Joe Batt.
Fawsett’s conversion took the game out of Bedford Athletic’s reach at 33-17.
The Ath desperately tried to salvage something but still without the necessary accuracy.
Ryan Taylor was held up over the line and replacement prop, Ryley Longmuir did eventually crash over with five minutes left, with Valpy making it 33-24 but a final penalty was kicked to touch and when the maul was held up, this prevented the visitors taking anything from the game.
The result sees Bedford Athletic fall to the foot of the table, one point from safety with the home match this Saturday against Sudbury marking the mid-point of the season.
Kick off at Putnoe Woods is at 3pm.
Words by Jeremy Tyrrell
