Old Bedians 0 - 20 Garstang

Bedians slumped to a disappointing defeat after a VERY disappointing performance against a Garstang team they had beaten convincingly a week earlier. Straight from the off the away side dominated the scrummage and, like Bedians found out to their cost earlier in the season, when you struggle in this department it makes life difficult across the park. In their defence Bedians fielded only one of the front row, Pete Wall, that started and performed so well seven days earlier and he succumbed to a neck injury after 15 minutes, replaced by the very reluctant prop Stu Crabb. The 1st half was a tight affair, Garstang's dominance of the scrums was countered by Bedians' dangerous (but far from at their best) backline. A 3-0 half-time defecit meant that Bedes were still in the game but they would have to improve.
A horrific looking facial injury (caused purely accidentally by a full-blooded fly hack from the away side's fly half) meant the departure of pack leader Jack O'Shea, further harming Bedians forwards. Early in the second half Garstang scored three quick tries that finished the game as a contest. In brief, the first was a well worked try out wide, the second may as well go down as an 'Own Try' as it was the result of two breast-high flaps at the Garstang back-row player as he ran the ball into (and through) the home defence and the third was the result of a lucky bounce after a chip over, the kind of bounce that goes against you when the chips are down. At 0-20 the game was over but Bedians did then play their best rugby of the game, putting pressure on the away side for the final 20 minutes. Unfortunately, even after a few very close calls, Bedians didn't manage to score. Worse news was the injury to the influential Mike Gallagher with a broken thumb, another addition to the long injury list ahead of next week's difficult trip to high-flying Trafford MV.
Garstang fully desrerved their victory and Bedians should be upset with their performance, hopefully we can come back with a bang and win the three matches it looks like we need to stay in the league.