Old Bedians v Pendle

Old Bedians 1st XV travelled to Pendle with hopes of another fine performance on Saturday. However, they faced a strong Pendle side who were looking for a home win after the previous week's loss to Ashton.

The weather fortunately turned after what had been a 'wash out' week and the conditions were fair, if not muddy, for what turned out to be a very competitive fixture.

Bedians welcomed back Mark Howard into the team who started at nine, while they fielded a young but strong and mobile pack - most noticeably in the front row with props Jim Blair and Dan Mollit keen to make their positions their own for the coming season.

The Bedians back line also boasted the return of the centre partnership of Vince Betty and Dan Gardiner who were looking to again threaten in the midfield.

The game started at pace from the kick off with Bedians looking to make the most of their mobile pack. Early pressure saw some good territory for Bedians with a number of phases played within Pendle's 22. Unfortunately, Bedes were unable to turn pressure into points and Pendle began to get a foothold in the match with a number of consecutive phases of play.

Momentum was soon back with Bedians though, after some excellent scrummaging, notably from Cawthorne and Thompson in the ‘engine room’ allowing the deft boot of number 10 Mike Gallagher to kick Bedians into some excellent attacking positions. Once more however, the Pendle defence stood strong and showed great organisation when defending the surging runs of Vince Betty.

Mid-way through the half, Pendle, who looked to play a quick off-loading game throughout, found some space on the Bedians right wing. Following some good interlinking play they powered over the try line to score the first points of the afternoon which were duly converted.

Bedes roused by the try, hit straight back at Pendle with strong powerful runs from John Gosling at 7 and Thompson feeding off Gallagher at 10.

From some clinical line out ball deep within the Pendle 22, Bedes had a number of pick and drives from the forwards attacking the Pendle fringes. One final united drive saw Captain Steve Bannell burrow over the try line for Bedians first points of the afternoon which, unfortunately, Gallagher could not convert.

At half time Bedes discussed how the game would be kept tight and the fringes attacked, but within the first few minutes Pendle had struck again from a quick tap penalty to lead 12-5.

Again, Bedians reacted positively, and some strong attacking runs from the back row and Liam Connolly at full back saw Bedians push Pendle back into their 22. In fact Bedes held on to possession and territory for the remainder of the half, however, resilient defence from Pendle managed to stop Bedians from scoring any more than a solitary second half penalty.

The last 10 minutes saw both Bedians wingers Paul Makinen and Gareth Webber both seeing a lot of ball as Bedians threw caution to wind in seek of win, and spreading the ball wide, however, it wasn't Bedians day. Following a break down in play Pendle cleared their lines for the win.

Pendle will be pleased with their hard fought win and will prove to be a tough side to beat this season, especially at home.

Bedes meanwhile will settle for a losing bonus point and look ahead to hosting Aston at Millgate Lane next week, hoping to make it 3 wins out of 3 at home in the league.