Old Bedians 20 - 10 Windermere

Old Bedians got their first two points of the season at the fifth time of asking with a hard fought 20-10 victory over fellow strugglers Windermere at Millgate Lane despite the unavailability of numerous 1st XV squad members. With the strong wind gusting across the pitch, Bedians got the upper hand early and after five minutes of possession in the Cumbrians’ 22, they were awarded a penalty after Windermere were forced to kill the ball. Mike Gallagher expertly used the upright to help the ball over the crossbar, 3-0. Bedians upped the tempo further and after 15 minutes an attacking scrum allowed the backs to put on a set play, stand-off Gaz Prytherch dummied the switch pass to both centres and strolled through a gap in the Windermere defence to dive over under the posts, Gallagher added the extras and Bedians were 10-0 in front.
Back came Windermere, using their big, experienced forwards well they pinned Bedians back in their own half with a series of driving mauls and barracking runs close to the breakdown. After a spell of committed defence from the home side, a Windermere knock-on resulted in a Bedians scrum inside their own quarter. Shaping to kick the ball long, captain Prytherch instead chipped the ball over the rushing ‘mere players and for the first time this season fortune favoured Bedes as the ball sat up perfectly for Prytherch to re-gather as two Windermere players collided with one another, drawing the full-back he passed to winger Rick Snape who raced in from 50 yards to score in the corner. The tricky conversion was missed but Bedians were 15 points to the good.
Windermere continued to use their superior size to pound into the Bedians defence, which, as is becoming a huge quality of theirs, stood firm for ten minutes of backs-to-the-wall tackling, the back row of O’Shea, Hetherington and Keck to the fore. On the stroke of half-time the Windermere pressure finally got them a reward as they scored a push over try from a scrum 5 metres out. Half-time 15-5.
A combination of the worsening weather conditions which resulted in a large number of line outs, and some poor discipline from the Bedians forwards, led to much of the second half being spent with Windermere in attack. Bedians appeared to be playing into the hands of the ‘mere forwards but to their credit a poor decision or mistake always seemed to be followed by some sterling defensive work that kept the visitors at bay. The only time this wasn’t the case was when the Cumbrians scored a carbon copy of their earlier try from another close range scrum. After 60 minutes the score was 15-10 in Bedians favour.
The mistakes and the honest defence continued from Bedians for the remainder of the game and they managed to stop Windermere scoring again. With the last play of the game, a sliced clearance from Prytherch landed in the middle of the pitch, the first player to get to the bouncing ball was the onrushing Gallagher who, with a trademark side step, beat two defenders and fed winger Jonathan Swift who scored in the corner, the final whistle blew and the relieved Bedians players celebrated a hard fought 20-10 victory.
Bedians must now build on this victory but also learn from the mistakes that on a different day might have resulted in another loss if they are to get into a mid-table position that they know they are capable of.