Old Bedians 33 - 34 Ashton-Under-Lyne

Old Bedians produced their best 80 minutes of the season against a much bigger and more experienced Ashton-Under-Lyne side but still lost to the odd point in 67 in what was a very competitive and exciting game at Millgate Lane. The first try was the result of a big hit on Ashton’s number 10 from the superb Simon Jude that led to a fumble that was picked up by Vince Betty who fed Rick Snape who, from all of 80 yards, left the away side’s defence in his wake to race home for his fifth try of the season. The conversion was missed but 5 minutes later Bedians extended their lead to 8-0 thanks to a drop goal from Gaz Prytherch, this proved to be the captain’s last involvement of the game, a back injury forcing him off, replaced by debutant Daniel Davis. An Ashton penalty was followed by another Bedians try, Betty this time feeding scrum-half Mark Howard to sprint in for a five-pointer. Ashton’s huge pack then started to put pressure on Bedes and after a period of resistance from the home side they finally crossed the line in the corner, 13-8. A well struck Mike Gallagher penalty then extended the home side’s lead only for a push-over try from the Tamesiders which was converted left the half time score at 16-15 to Old Bedians.
Bedians started the second half well and their efforts were rewarded when a set-piece backs move released full-back Mike Roberts, the nimble footed Welshman stepped past 2 would-be tacklers to score beside the posts, a try converted by Gallagher. Ashton then began to turn the screw in the scrummage and after a 10 yard drive towards Bedians’ try line the referee awarded them a penalty try after the scrum collapsed, bringing the score to 23-22 in favour of Bedians. Mike Gallagher then neatly slotted his second penalty of the game to stretch the lead before Ashton scored another try, an almost carbon copy of their previous effort but this time the ball was grounded at the back of a scrum-cum-maul. Fly-half Gallagher then released Davis who came in off his wing , crashed over the final defender to cross the whitewash, Gallagher’s conversion gave Bedians a 33-27 advantage. 10 minutes of backs-to-the-wall defence followed and it took another surging scrum from Ashton to score the final try of the game. A cool conversion meant that with 2 minutes remaining Ashton had the lead for the first time in the game. Old Bedians couldn’t manage to regain the lead and a spirited performance ended in a hard-to-swallow defeat but one that will lift spirits in the Didsbury clubs’ camp ahead of a few tough games, starting with the long away trip to Garstang on Saturday.