Bedians Get Stuck in the Mud

On a muddy afternoon visiting Colne and Nelson, Bedians came away empty-handed having hoped for much more.

Having put in such a good performance two weeks previously against Crosby St Mary's, Bedians had been itching to build on that win. A late postponement of the rearranged Newton-le-Willows fixture, as well an interruption to training due to a floodlight failure, had gone some way to disrupting the flood of positive Bedian momentum. With further disruptions due to player availability, Bedes may not quite have been carrying all the momentum from the last match, but confidence was still running high. That confidence soon turned to dejection before a ball was kicked, as we were informed minutes before the scheduled kick off that the referee would not be coming.

Anger soon turned to relief as a local spectator offered his services as a qualified referee (Big thanks Taffey!). Having made such a long trip Bedes took the chance to play the game with the official on offer. Eventually play got underway half hour later than expected.

Given the confusion and disjointed pre-match warm up, it was not surprising that the game started slowly, with neither team pressing home any kind of advantage. The first opportunity of the game came to fullback Ryan Keyes after a fantastic break from Alex Rakowski, however the attempted chip over the oncoming winger was slightly overcooked. Shortly after Colne and Nelson were on the attack, and Bedes conceded a penalty which the dangerous Colne fullback duly slotted over for the first points of the match.
Not long after conceding, Bedes were further hampered as Keyes went over on his ankle and had to be replaced by the returning Mark Howard.

Falling behind appeared to be the impetus the Bedes needed, as they began a series of incursions into Colne territory. The conditions of the pitch being as muddy as anyone will expect to find all season, mistakes were a regular occurrence, and unfortunately a lot of endeavour by the visitors came to nothing. However soon enough Bedes were awarded a penalty, a tricky kick only narrowly missed by winger Alex Rakowski. Bedes carried on applying pressure, and with the last play of the half eventually managed to cross the whitewash as fly half Aussie Mike slid over, with Rakowski kicking the extra 2 points to give Bedians a 7-3 lead at half-time.

Unfortunately Colne and Nelson came firing at the start of the second period, scoring 3 quick unanswered tries, thanks to both a greater desire and much better handling of the ball in tricky conditions than Bedes were able to manage. Facing a 13 point deficit by this point, Bedes once again roused themselves into a spirited fight back, spending a significant period of time camped in the Colne and Nelson 22. A lot of credit has to go to the home team however, as they were able to repel everything that Bedians threw at them. Unfortunately the visitors didn't help themselves with their high penalty count, and a lot of promising attacks came to an end due to Colne's speed at the breakdown. Whilst Bedians continued searching for another try, Colne scored a final try to secure a bonus point and end any Bedes hopes of taking something away from the game.

Credit to all Bedians for not giving up in testing conditions, and leaving everything on the pitch by the end of the match. Special mention to the work rate of Richard Thompson, Dan Mollit and Jim Blair in the pack whilst in the back line John Gosling did well playing out of position and his partner in crime Dan Gardiner who made numerous breaks.

Morevover, credit goes to what is clearly a continually improving Colne and Nelson team for a deserved victory, we wish them luck for the rest of the season and look forward to welcoming them to Millgate Lane later on in the season. In the meanwhile Bedes now look forward to next week, hoping to rediscover their winning form from a few weeks ago.

MOM - Ben Rogerson.

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Old Bedians RUFC, Millgate Lane, Didsbury, Manchester, M20 5QX
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