Bedians Back to Winning Ways

In a hard fought, but sometimes ill disciplined match, Old Bedians kept their heads to walk away with 4 points and enough of a winning margin to leave the visitors empty handed.

In a game that saw almost as many yellow cards produced as tries scored, it was the visiting side from North Manchester or began the stronger, capitalising on yet another slow Bedians start.

It was clear from the outset that North Manchester would look to use their large forwards and their shortened line outs worked a treat as they caught and drove against the Bedian pack. It was from one of these very same line outs that the games first try was produced as Bedes were unable to hold up the rolling North Manchester maul. With the missed taken Bedes trailed by 5 points early on.

The promotion rivals clearly had a game plan they intended to stick to, and were it not for some last ditch defensive work from Simon Fox and returning captain Steve Bannell, Manchester would have scored a 2nd soon after. Thankfully the two combined to hold the ball up over the line after yet another successful Manchester drive and meant the deficit remained only 5.

After the initial wave of pressure from the visiting side had been resisted Bedes started to come back into the game, in particular Simon Jude and Joe Eley who were beginning to dominate at the break down area. Bedes good counter rucking and effective ability to slow down the ball lead to frustration creeping in amongst the opposition side and after 20 minutes or so this frustration spilled over as a North Manchester player was sent to the bin for dangerous use of the boot. Thankfully Ricky T, who had been the unfortunate recipient of the stamp, was not seriously injured. This binning led to a mad period for North Manchester in which they lost a further 2 players for talking back to the referee.

Bedes have learnt in previous weeks that discipline is key and it was apparent that this referee would not accept any lip whatsoever

With the away team now down to 12 men, Bedes, as one would expect, maintained possession and pressured the visiting line. A combination of good defence and some sloppy Bedians play meant that only 3 points were taken in this period. As no other points were added by either team the half time score read Old Bedians 3 v 5 North Manchester.

With Rob Oliver replacing Jack Johnson at half time, and Chrissy Hetherington coming on for Simon Jude after only a few minutes, Bedes knew that they were still firmly in this game and that if we got the ball wide tries would be scored. The first try however was produced from solid defensive work as the North Manchester 10 was forced back by Vince Betty, losing the ball under the sticks where Chrissy was on hand to touch down.

Michael "Swede" Rothwell kicked a further penalty from the opposition 10 metre line to keep the score board ticking over and Bedians began to look in control.
With Bedes now full of confidence our attacking game began to flow and Vince “Pie Thighs” Betty continued his good form, continually rampaging over his opposite number. Paul Makinen, whilst not scoring himself, also ran strong on the wing and Rich Thompson provided a constant option off Swedes shoulder at 10.

Whilst North Manchester scored a couple of tries of their own in the second half Bedes also went over twice more. Firstly when Tups ghosted through the opposition defence and then when Mark Howard touched down in the corner after scrum half Simon Fox had tapped a quick penalty (a decision fully supported by captain Steve Bannell).

With both sides scoring 3 tries a piece it was fitting that the final say should go to Swede who calmly slotted a third penalty over in the last minute. In previous years Bedes have struggled to close out games and have lost matches by only a handful of points, thankfully this week we were able to call on the reliable boot of Swede and it was his kicking that was the difference between the sides.

Special mention should also go to Mark Howard, playing at 15 rather than his normal position of scrum half, who was superb running and kicking from deep and vice captain, number 8 Jack O'Shea who was an ever present in support of the backs.

Bedians will be looking to build on this victory when they travel to Mossley Hill next week for another tough game against fellow promotion rivals.

Final Score: Old Bedians 28 v 20 North Manchester